The Chesterton wrestling team had to dig deep, but found a way to pick up a hard-fought 36-35 Duneland Athletic Conference victory at LaPorte on Wednesday night.

The host Slicers got off to a hot start with three consecutive victories from 103-119 for a fast 18-0 lead.

“We are still struggling with some inexperience at the lower weights,” Chesterton coach Chris Joll said. “It’ll be interesting to see how hard those kids will work in the off-season to get better.”

Zack Thornton started the ship in the right direction for Chesterton with a pin of Frank Mancuso at 125. Chris Katsafaros followed with a fall at 135 and Joe Kelly got a 17-4 decision to cut the lead to 18-16.

“Everybody in that stretch did what they were supposed to do,” Joll said.

After a LaPorte win at 140, Chris Copollo got a 19-3 tech fall of Dylan Kreighbaum. Brandon Garvey (152) and Anthony Quiroz (160) picked up quick pins and the Trojans were on top 33-22.

“That’s a nice win from Chris at 145,” Joll said.

Zack Smith picked up a win for LaPorte at 171 and Dustin Pape followed with a 9-1 win at 189 cutting the Trojan lead to 33-29.

“Vinnie (Quiroga) not getting pinned at 189 was just as important as any match all night,” Joll said. “Just giving up four points and a major decision was huge.”

At 215, Gus Hultman and Jon Wegiel were tied at 4-4 heading into the fourth period. Hultman escaped for a 5-4 lead and then got a takedown and held on for a 7-5 decision that put the match out of reach.

“Gus Hultman had a once in a lifetime athletic experience tonight where his performance won his team a meet,” Joll said.

Greg Wedow got a pin for the Slicers at heavyweight to set the final score.

The Trojans return to the mat on Saturday when they travel to Hobart for the Brickie Invitational.

103 – Tyler Kuzdas (L) pin Adam Scheerer, 1:54. 112 – Aaron Kuzdas (L) pin Ashlee Barkeloo, 2:38. 119 – Cody Schmidt (L) pin Chris Thompson, 2:54. 125 – Zack Thornton (C) pin Frank Mancuso, 1:33. 130 – Chris Katsafaros (C) pin Tyler Woodrick, 2:27. 135 – Joe Kelly (C) dec. Kyle Stachowski, 17-4. 140 – Nick Santana (L) dec. Will Butz, 15-3. 145 – Chris Copollo (C) dec. Dylan Kreighbaum, 19-3. 152 – Brandon Garvey (C) pin Mitch Haverstuhl, 2:52. 160 – Anthony Quiroz (C) pin Anthony Otolski, 1:26. 171 – Zack Smith (L) dec. Tony Sanchez, 6-5. 189 – Dustin Pape (L) dec. Vicente Quiroga, 9-1. 215 – Gustav Hultman (C) dec. Jon Wegiel, 7-5. 285 – Greg Wedow (L) pin Frank Raudry, :45.

Posted 1/21/2010