When Chris Katsafaros "pops the top," as coach Chris Joll phrases it, the Chesterton senior can be as good as anybody.

"We just have to get the ball rolling," Joll said. "Sometimes, he only wrestles to his competition."

Katsafaros showed moments of both in Saturday's Crown Point Regional, plodding through a 9-3 semifinal win in the 145-pound weight class before exploding for a second-period pin of Lowell's Mitch Roadruck in the championship.

"You give him an opening, he can get as tough as he wants to be and put the screws to you," Joll said. "That flurry at the end, that was old school, coach (Keith) Davison at the Mishawaka Invitational. That scrambling comes from wrestling with coach (Jason) Cook in practice."

Roadruck only trailed Katsafaros (40-1) 4-3 after a first period that included a takedown. Katsafaros took bottom in the second, working his way to a reversal and eventually a pin, with a stack out of a near-side cradle at 3:36.

"I scrambled out of his legs, turned around, grabbed his head and got the cradle," Katsafaros said. "It's the best competition I've had since Mishawaka. It was good to have. I still need the conditioning. (Roadruck) was talking in the paper how he was looking forward to wrestling me and I was, too. I respect him. I've known him for a long time and I'm happy we got the chance to go at it."

Ryley Harlow was Chesterton's other finalist, losing 3-2 at 285 to Hanover Central's Josh Bartoszek. Bartoszek hit the match's only takedown and held on for the win after Harlow escaped to get within a point in the last 20 seconds.

"I can't say they won the match as much as we lost it," Joll said. "He was a little bigger and stronger, Ryley took a shot, and he got behind us. He's not the type to sit back and let the quarterback come to him. He's going to go after him. But it looks like he and Chris put themselves in position to get to the next level."

The Trojans' other qualifiers for the Merrillville Semistate were freshman Matt Estill (120) and Jack Davison (132), both of whom finished fourth.

"It's nice to get a freshman through," Joll said. "Matt's gotten a lot better than he was earlier in the season, which is a testament to what coach (Brian) Swallow has done with him. Jack's got such a great support system, it keeps him in position in matches he probably shouldn't be in, he's just not finishing it off in those situations."

Mike Double (126), Hunter Rucklos (138) and Sawyer Hallas (152) all finished fifth. All three bounced back from competitive opening-round losses to post a pair of wins in the consolation bracket.

“Mike handled two guys pretty well,” Joll said. "We thought the K.V. kid (Beau Tauber) was a pushover, but he ended up getting to the finals and Sawyer got fifth with a pin. Hunter beat a kid who'd beaten him twice, then beat a guy who'd beaten him by 10. That's the kind of thing that makes coaching rewarding, a kid who progresses over the entire year.”

Coming into the tournament with a full lineup, Joll had hoped to advance a few more than four.

“After an exciting, rewarding weekend, to turn around and perform like this, it's a little disappointing,” Joll said. “Instead of taking the disposition that we had more to prove, we let them come to us and we didn't take it to them. It's hard to set one goal, achieve it, then re-set it to something else. It takes more than two, three days to achieve a goal, to do what you need to do."

Chesterton finished seventh as a team with 82 points. Crown Point, which had five champions and eight finalists, took first with 207. Valparaiso was runner-up at 122, placing second in five weight classes.

1. Crown Point, 207; 2. Valparaiso, 122; 3. Lowell, 105.5; 4. Kankakee Valley, 95; 5. Hanover Central, 88; 6. LaPorte, 87; 7. Chesterton, 82; 8. John Glenn, 80.5; 9. New Prairie, 80; 10. Knox, 37; 11. Andrean, 9; 12. LaVille, 7; 13. Michigan City, 5.

106 -- Chris Trent (NP) d. Tyler Schwartz (V) 10-2. 113 -- Stevan Micic (HC) p. Austin Coach (JG) 1:42. 120 -- Drew Hughes (L) p. Brett Ervin (CP) 1:35. 126 -- Josh Fuqua (CP) d. Max Buckley (V) 7-0. 132 -- Trevor Burlison (CP) d. Ricardo Rosario (V) 4-1. 138 -- Darden Schurg (CP) d. Mack Neal (V) 10-6. 145 -- Chris Katsafaros (C) p. Mitch Roadruck (L) 3:35. 152 -- Dusty Schurg (CP) tech. fall Beau Tauber (KV) 4:43. 160 -- Kenny Hughes (L) p. Dax Jones (CP) 2:34. 170 -- Mike Eldridge (LP) d. Luke Davis (V) 5-1. 182 -- Tyler Scott (HC) d. Matt Langbehn (CP) 4-2. 195 -- Morgan Kral (CP) p. Ryan Patterson (L) 4:31. 220 -- Ben Standifer (LP) p. Stanish (NP) 3:52. 285 -- Josh Bartoszek (HC) d. Ryley Harlow (C) 3-2.

106 -- Riley Akers (CP) d. Isaac Cortez (HC). 113 -- Alex Bravo (V) d. Zach Wells (LP) 5-3. 120 -- Andrew Frey (JG) d. Matt Estill (C) 8-3. 126 -- Jake Gross (L) d. Eric Larsen (HC) 4-2. 132 -- James Frey (JG) p. Jack Davison (C) 2:46. 138 -- Jimmy Marich (KV) d. Antwan Wordlaw (LP) 11-3. 145 -- Tyler Burlison (CP) d. Cody MacLeod (NP) 3-0. 152 -- Dalton Escobedo (NP) p. Kevin Land (Knox) 1:58. 160 -- Adam Dodson (JG) d. Wade Young (NP) 4-2. 170 -- John Morrison (KV) p. Jacob Hazi (CP) 1:57. 182 -- Tim Schoonveld (KV) d. Darius Ginn (V) 3-1. 195 -- Joel Bolen (KV) d. Derrick Suttles (V) 4-2. 220 -- Matt Berdine (KV) p. Steven Potoskey (CP) 2:18. 285 -- Quinton Klingberg (CP) p. Landon Blackburn (LP) 3:14.

Posted 2/4/2013