Chesterton Wrestling coach Chris Joll turned it over to his veterans. After all, it was Senior Night.

They responded and led the Trojans to 48-21 Duneland Athletic Conference victory over Valparaiso on Wednesday night.

“We wrestled every single Senior in our lineup,” Joll said. “We had nine of them out there and some of them were out there on the varsity for the first time this year. The guys that we put out there did a nice job.

“Overall, I thought we put a pretty good exclamation point on the home season.”

After dropping a decision at 152 to start the night, senior Brandon Garvey started a three-match pin streak for Chesterton. Anthony Quiroz won at 171 in 1:09, while Sevante Yates beat Valpo’s Matt Turner at the 4:52 mark.

“I think Brandon Garvey gets better every single match,” Joll said. “Sevante did a nice job in his first match of the year.”

“I was nervous at first,” Yates said. “I practiced hard all week. It was really nice to come out and win on Senior Night.”

Seniors Gus Hultman and Frank Raudry picked up forfeit wins at 215 and 285 to put the Trojans on top 30-3.

“The Seniors are such a different group of kids,” Joll said. “You wouldn’t see them hanging around together normally. They are different sizes, different kinds of kids and have different extracurricular things that they do.

“But, they come together for Wrestling and they’ll be hard to replace.”

Valpo picked up a tough overtime victory at 103 before Chesterton’s Chris Thompson beat Max Buckley 10-7 at 112.

“Our 103-pounder keeps getting better every time we put him out there,” Joll said. “Chris Thompson did a nice job wrestling for the first time this year. “

Ashley Barkeloo got a forfeit win at 119 and Zack Thornton won by fall at 3:18. Bill Petrocelli was the Trojans’ final winner of the night with a 7-2 victory at 130.

“It was a tough match,” Joll said. “I just tried to do the best I could. It’s Senior Night and it could be my last match ever and it’s nice to win at home.”

103 – Tyler Schwartz (V) dec. Adam Scheerer, 8-6 (ot). 112 – Chris Thompson (C) dec. Max Buckley, 10-7. 119 – Ashley Barkeloo (C) FFW. 125 – Zack Thornton (C) pin Evan Cahill, 3:18. 130 – Bill Petrocelli (C) dec. Rosario Kristofeor, 7-2. 135 – Chad Miller (V) dec. Joe Kelly, 7-2. 140 – Jon Westmoreland (V) pin Donovan Hamilton, 4:16. 145 – AJ Ratajec (V) pin Chris Copollo, 3:50. 152 – Ethan Moser (V) dec. Cameron Harbrecht, 9-7. 160 – Brandon Garvey (C) pin Ryan Henke, 2:51. 171 – Anthony Quiroz (C) pin Ryan Haye, 1:09. 189 – Sevante Yates (C) pin Matt Turner, 4:52. 215 – Gus Hultman (C) FFW. 285 – Frank Raudry (C) FFW.

Posted 1/14/2010