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Westwood football faced its toughest test of the 2025 season thus far Thursday night.

Hosting Forrest in a battle of undefeated teams, the Rockets passed with flying colors, coming out on top 26-14 at Dyer-Bouldin Field.

“Neither of these teams had really been challenged all year. If you look, our scores were very, very similar, so it was gonna be a game where we’re gonna punch each other in the mouth and see who can take a punch, and we took a punch tonight,” Westwood coach Matt Mueller said of Westwood’s victory. “We lost our starting quarterback (Hayes Shemwell) early in the second quarter, (Forrest is) up, it looks like they’ve got all the momentum, they had a good first drive on us, but we were resilient.”

Scoreless after one quarter, Westwood lost Shemwell to injury not long after the team’s drive resumed when the second quarter got under way. Coming in to take Shemwell’s place was Aidyn Jones, who proceeded to take off for a 28-yard run to the end zone shortly after.

The ensuing 2-point conversion attempt was no good, leaving the Rockets up 6-0 with 7:08 left until halftime.

Forrest answered right back on the following return, immediately running the ball in for the equalizing touchdown. Forrest opted for the extra point attempt, nailing the kick to take a 7-6 lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the quarter.

Opening the ensuing drive on its own 42-yard line, Westwood proceeded to march down to the Forrest 31 before Jones connected with Caiden Campbell for a touchdown pass to put the Rockets back in control.

Westwood was once again unable to convert on the 2-point attempt and settled for a 12-7 lead, but it would not be long before the Rockets were back in the end zone. Two plays into the following Forrest drive, Luke Christian came away with the interception and took it to the house for a pick-six. Westwood was able to complete the 2-point conversion this time, with Jones finding Campbell in the end zone to make it a 20-7 Rocket lead with 1:15 left until the break.

Christian picked up right where he left off on the opening return of the second half, taking it all the way to the end zone for another Westwood touchdown.

Up 26-7 after an unsuccessful 2-point attempt, the Rockets surrendered a second Forrest touchdown with 3:28 left in the third quarter. Forrest’s PAT attempt was also good, cutting the Westwood lead to 12.

This would ultimately be the game’s final touchdown, as the Westwood defense did not let Forrest get any closer on the way to securing the win and maintaining an unblemished record.

“We had Aidyn step in. He has not taken snaps at quarterback since June in a 7-on-7. We come in and we still put 26 points on the board because we win at special teams and we win on defense, so whatever it takes,” Mueller said. “That’s the sign of a good team. What do you do when things go wrong? Do you panic, do you attack each other, or do you just stand together, bond together and fight that much harder.”

Westwood (6-0) will face another undefeated team next week when it travels to Cascade next Saturday, September 13. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m.