By TR HARLAN

The Chesterton Trojans upset No. 12 Merrillville 41-27 on Wednesday night.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.

“I’m very proud of my guys and there will be some hooting and hollering in the locker room tonight,” Chesterton coach Chris Joll said. “Our lineup against their lineup isn’t so good. But, when we put ourselves in a position to be successful, good things happen.”

The Pirates started with a decision at 145, before Ethan Harbrecht took to the mat for the Trojans at 152. Harbrecht got caught in a headlock by Ben Smithers an fell behind 7-0, while nearly going unconscious.

“He had a tight headlock right across my throat,” Harbrecht said. “It cut off my air and everything was black. I woke up and (CHS Trainer) Mr. (Bernie) Stento was over me. Eventually, I got my wits back, got real upset and took it to him.”

Harbrecht recorded an escape and a takedown to cut the lead to 7-3 at the end of the first period. Then the senior dominated the next four minutes en route to a 20-11 major decision.

“I’ve never been down 7-0 and majored a kid before,” Harbrecht said. “I was just better than him, but being upset really helped. That win kind of got momentum going back our way.”

“I don’t know how many guys can almost be unconscious and then come back to major a guy,” Joll said. “I have one at 152. I was very proud of Ethan.”

Spencer Stockwell continued to wrestle well with a victory by fall at 160 over Robbie Jordan.

“Spencer really turned the corner today,” Joll said. “He’s really starting to understand what we want out there.”

Back-to-back pins for Merrillville gave them a 15-10 lead before the coaching side of wrestling got involved.

Joll elected to bump 189-pounder Ryan Sanchez to 215 and the senior responded with a major decision (14-1) over Corderro Pollard. Adam Boatright’s pin at 285 put Chesterton back on top 20-15.

“I take them in the room and condition them, set practice times and yell a little bit,” Joll said. “Coach (Brian) Swallow takes care of all this stuff out here. He figured everything out before the meet and it went almost exactly the way he said it would.

“It’s really hard to fail when you have outstanding people under you doing incredible things.”

A Merrillville win at 103, was followed by a great run of three victories by the Trojans.

Senior Ben Williams responded from his first loss of the season to beat Carlo Martinez 3-2 at 112 pounds. Martinez got the first takedown, but a reversal by Williams in the second period proved to be the difference.

“He’s a tough kid and I wrestled him five or six times last year,” Williams said. “He likes to throw and last year he kept getting five-point moves against me. As long as I stay away from that, I can control things pretty well.”

Zack Thornton was set for a rematch against undefeated Anthony Napules at 119 and needed all six minutes to get the victory.

“He beat me at Mishawaka and I knew what I had to do today,” Thornton said. “I was down one with a few seconds left tonight and I got the reversal and held on. I kept standing up and he would bury my head. I couldn’t get away, so I tried to swing around behind and get the reversal.”

Joel Gillespie, literally, fought off his back to get a fall victory at 125 over Frankie Valdivia.

“Some things you just have to keep going and going for even when it’s not there,” Gillespie said. “If you just keep going and working, eventually something is going to open up. When it does, you have to take advantage of it.”

Gillespie was caught in a cradle by Valdivia, but broke free and used a headlock to put the Trojans up 32-21 with three matches left.

“Joel is a freshman and he hasn’t wrestled a whole lot, but that’s typical of him,” Joll said. “He just isn’t going to quit and very rarely does he get a guy on his back and not pin him.”

Chesterton elected to forfeit to Andrew Kepchar at 130, while bumping Brian Kowalski to 135. The move worked again as he pinned Eddie Deluna at the 3:31 mark.

“Getting pins at heavyweight, 135, 125 and 160 were huge for us,” Joll said. “What I like most about guys like Brian, Ethan, Ben and Joel that don’t celebrate and point figures to make people look at them after they’ve won.

“They don’t because they meant to do exactly what they did.”

Michael Tucker’s decision victory (7-4) over Darrius Richmond at 140 set the final score.

“They’re the 12th ranked team in the State and we’re not even getting any votes,” Joll said. “Portage is getting votes and we just beat them. It’s typical of how people overlook us. We’re just trying to become a program like Bellmont and Mishawaka, where we can get some respect.

“This may not be a great Merrillville team, but to beat them after they beat us three times last year, is a great thing.”

Chesterton 41, Merrillville 27

AT CHESTERTON

145 – Keon Jones (M) dec. Garrett Evans, 8-5. 152 – Ethan Harbrecht (C) maj. dec. Ben Smithers, 20-11. 160 – Spencer Stockwell (C) pin Robbie Jordan, 3:46. 171 – George Neely (M) pin Jim Butz, 1:56. 189 – Jake Salas (M) pin Gus Hultman, 1:24. 215 – Ryan Sanchez (C) maj. dec. Corderro Pollard, 14-1. Hwt – Adam Boatright (C) pin James Travis, 1:54. 103 – Zac Stevens (M) pin George Choucalas, 1:00. 112 – Ben Williams (C) dec. Carlo Martinez, 3-2. 119 – Zack Thornton (C) dec. Anthony Napules, 8-7. 125 – Joel Gillespie (C) pin Frankie Valdivia, 3:23. 130 – Andrew Kepchar (M) ffw. 135 – Brian Kowalski (C) pin Eddie Deluna, 3:31. 140 – Michael Tucker (C) dec. Darius Richmond, 7-4.

Posted 1/3/2008