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Westwood football kept its undefeated start to the 2025 season intact Thursday night.

Hosting Eagleville, the Rockets overcame a slower start and came to life after halftime, taking off for a 46-6 victory over the Eagles.

“We knew Eagleville was gonna be very well-coached. They played very hard and they outplayed us in the first half,” Westwood coach Matt Mueller said. “We had some words at halftime, (Westwood) bounced back the way that a good team should and you go out and take care of business.”

Up 16-6 at the half, Westwood opened the third quarter with a long return from Luke Christian to set the Rockets up on the Eagleville 21-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Hayes Shemwell hit Weston Rodderick for a seven-yard touchdown pass. Shemwell followed this up with a throw to Aidyn Jones for the two-point conversion to put Westwood up 24-6 with 6:20 left in the quarter.

Shemwell reached the end zone on his own on Westwood’s next offensive possession, breaking off for a long run to the end zone to push the Rockets further ahead. Rodderick carried the ball over the line for two more points on the next play to move Westwood’s lead up to 32-6.

The Rockets came away with one more touchdown before the third quarter’s completion, this time coming courtesy of a Shemwell to Jones connection for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Rodderick once again took care of the two-point attempt to give Westwood a 40-6 advantage, before one more Rocket touchdown in the fourth quarter put Westwood up by 40 by the time the clock struck zero.

“Getting to be a good team, a lot of people can do that. But going from good to great is the last, hardest leap to make,” Mueller said. “Especially after you win a championship, complacency can set in and you just think we’re gonna go out and do it again. It doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to work that much harder to maintain success.”

Westwood (4-0) will return to action next Thursday with a road trip to Community. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.

“As players, we need to be thinking next week towards Community, a team that we haven’t beaten since I’ve been here,” Mueller said of next week’s matchup. “That’s something that’s gonna motivate me, it’s gonna motivate this coaching staff and I hope it motivates these players.”