LaPORTE ââ?¬â?? By the time the 215-pound matches arrived in the championship
of the LaPorte Sectional, Chesterton coach Chris Joll looked relaxed.
Just for a moment.
He sat back in the chair at the edge of the main mat, put his arm across the chair on his left, and let out a big smile.
For that 12-second period of time, the intensity on his face was gone.
Then he took a
short walk and returned to the chair, bringing back the intense game
face he had shown most of the meet. And he got to watch another one of
his wrestlers, Ryan Sanchez, capture an individual title.
That was one of
three weight class titles, to go with a couple runners-up and three
consolation titles for the Trojans as they dethroned
Chesterton scored 254.5 points to edge
Joll only wanted to focus on his team and not the dynasty that had lost.
ââ?¬Å?We didnââ?¬â?¢t care
who was second. We didnââ?¬â?¢t care how many sectionals they won in a row,ââ?¬Â
he said. ââ?¬Å?Weââ?¬â?¢ve been working really hard and weââ?¬â?¢re just wrestling like
Chesterton right now.ââ?¬Â
Besides Sanchez, the other two Trojans to stand atop the awards stand were Andy
ââ?¬Å?We knew we
could do it,�said Williams, who won the sectional title last year at
103 pounds. ââ?¬Å?We had to stay strong every day and practice hard. We rely
on some people and look for surprises from others. I try to be one of
the ones we rely on.ââ?¬Â
He was on Saturday, improving his season record to 34-3, while St. Germain is now 33-2 on the season.
Sanchez had to defeat two wrestlers who had beaten him earlier this season (Andrew Pavolka of New Prairie and Billy Pearman of
ââ?¬Å?The only
surprise I had were kids who didnââ?¬â?¢t wrestle up to their capabilities,ââ?¬Â
Joll said. ââ?¬Å?I thought we could have had two more finalists.ââ?¬Â
Despite losing in a sectional for the first time,
ââ?¬Å?It all comes down to heart and pride at this time of the year,ââ?¬Â second-year
There was one explosive incident that took away from the actual competition for a short period of time.
LaPorte
assistant coach Brian Shroll was arguing boisterously with official
Phil Jensen about the 171-pound third-place match lost by his wrestler
Ian Beach. At one point Shroll pulled out his wallet to show Jensen his
wrestling officiating license while yelling a pair of obscenities.
Jensen gave him
a coach misconduct penalty, which results in an automatic ejection, two
points deducted from the team�s score (LaPorte finished tied for fourth
as a result) and suspension for the next meet.
LaPorte�s David Oviatt won a 3-1 decision over Chesterton�s Ethan Harbrecht at 140 pounds, while Thurman Gast of
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