2025 Football season preview: sophomore newcomer Hunter Boyd triggers potentially exciting offense led by running back Andrew Goveia and receiver Louis Raffin

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The elements that add up to a potentially crowd-pleasing offense for Chesterton football include a 1,000-yard rusher aided by an offensive line that returns three starters, a long, fast, big-play receiver, and an intriguing newcomer at quarterback.
How that all translates to playing an opponent intent on messing with the best-laid plans is a mystery that begins unraveling tonight at 7 in the season-opener at Hobart’s Brickyard Stadium.
The Trojans have far less varsity experience on defense and younger, less developed bodies, so how that all comes together is another mystery of its own.
Assessing a team on paper has its limits.
When the Friday night lights shine, the band roars, the cheerleaders pepper the air with pep, concession lines snake and the stands fill with proud parents, supportive classmates and generations of former players, then and only then does a team truly begin to reveal itself.
High school football celebrates its 150th anniversary. The first high school game, played between Norwich Free Academy and Bulkey School for Boys, took place on a Wednesday night in the spring in Connecticut. Once games moved to Friday night in the fall, a great American tradition was born.
Chesterton opens its 66th season and 13th under the direction of head coach Mark Peterson. He has a 58-68 record at the school, including a 6-5 mark last season, which exceeded the expectations of most.
Peterson, who also serves as the team’s offensive coordinator, offered position-by-position insights as to how the Trojans’ depth chart shapes up. The position coach’s name appears in parentheses.
OFFENSE:
Quarterback (Wally McCormack): Sophomore Hunter Boyd, a long, lean, 6-foot-3, 185-pound left-hander armed with a quick release and an accurate arm at every level emerged from a prolonged battle with junior Declan Mayer to win the job. The players, starting with the quarterbacks first, were informed of the decision in mid-week.
Boyd is a pocket passer who spins a nice spiral. From Chesterton, he commuted to Andrean but transferred back home during the second semester of his freshman year. Sophomores tend not to put as much zip on the ball as they will as upperclassmen, but Boyd carries himself with confidence, looks the part and is an exciting prospect.
Mayer also throws an accurate deep ball.
“They’ve both done a good job,” Peterson said. “Hunter has shown an ability to make some decisions a little faster, which will help us in the long run. In the event anything happens, God forbid, I feel very good about Declan as well.”
On the first play from scrimmage in the scrimmage at Hammond Central last Friday, Boyd threw an on-target fade to Louis Raffin, who took it 65 yards for a touchdown.
“Hunter is a quarterback who can flourish by running some drop-back and throwing the ball down field,” Peterson said. “Declan’s a little bit different. He can be involved a little bit more in the run game. They’ve both done a really nice job, but they’re not the same.”
Running back (Alec Garbaciak): Senior Andrew Goveia amassed 1,198 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, despite missing the final three games with an injury.
He is not as fast as some running backs but can keep his legs moving to carry a pile and knows when to cut where. Peterson explained what else makes the running back who has grown even more muscular and is listed at 6-2, 215 so effective at moving the chains.
“He’s got great core strength, balance and vision,” Peterson said. “He has long enough arms he really gets behind his shoulder pads, so he’s not standing tall and just getting tackled. He has that natural forward body lean as a running back, so it makes it harder when you lengthen your body out that way for defenders to tackle you and, gosh, he’s got a great sense of being with his stiff arm. He can get that hand somewhere to keep somebody at bay just enough that that it makes it hard, and it takes a second and a third guy to take him down.”
Peterson cited a play in the scrimmage vs. Hammond Central, on which Goveia used his stiff arm to push a defender four extra yards down field.
Receivers (Colton Tuzinski, also special teams coordinator with Vern VanNostran handling the kickers and punters): Raffin missed all but the final three games of 2024 and still was the most productive receiver on the roster. A sub-50 400-meter man, Raffin is 6-3, 180 and spent most of the season recovering from a broken collarbone. He averaged 24.8 yards on five catches.
Having Goveia and Raffin healthy in the same game gives the Trojans a thunder-and-lightning combo they didn’t have last year because Raffin missed the first eight games, Goveia the final three.
On paper, receiver shapes up as one of the deeper positions on the roster. Explosive Gus Wisch works well out of the slot and fellow senior Patrick Mochen is, according to Peterson, “a classic possession receiver who catches everything he can get his hands on. And he’s gotten bigger, too. He’s done a great job blocking on the perimeter.”
But make no mistake, Mochen’s cousin, Raffin, is the player Boyd will be targeting more than anyone because of the yards he can get after the catch and for his ability to slip behind the defense running deep routes.
Junior Max Soffin supplies depth at both running back and slot receiver and will handle holding duties for kicker Drew Pacilio.
Tight end/fullback: Seniors Mike Rone and Dylan Bradford will be asked to block most of the time and catch a pass now and then. Rone, who has worked hard at beefing up, starts the season at the top of the depth chart.
Senior Bobby Spencer, back in the program for the first time since freshman year, brings strength to the fullback position as a backup, and Bradford will be at the top of the depth chart there.
Offensive line (Rob Kania): Center Carlos Leon and fellow returning starters Tyler Nevious and Braxton Ozug all gained extensive playing time as early as sophomore season. The Trojans will miss big, strong guards Ryan Gray and Hunter Buza, but Peterson has been impressed with a trio of blockers vying for snaps: senior Jack Gearhart (6-0, 270), junior Kameron Elliott (6-0, 260) and sophomore Malik Oueslati (6-0, 220).
Defense
Veteran coach Terry Chestovich coordinates a defense that returns just three starters in linebackers Bobby Stabolito, Lucas Anderson and defensive back Logan Chestovich, who moves from cornerback to safety.
Defensive line (John Toland and Josh Wissing): All the playing time went to seniors, including all-state performer Owen Edlen, last season. Having younger bodies at this position leads coaches to put the players in motion, exchanging gaps and rushing lanes to throw blockers off. Lining up and smashing mouths doesn’t work as well with younger, less developed bodies.
“We’ll run some stunts to give them an opportunity to be successful,” Peterson said.
Peterson lauded the job senior Colin Kellog (5-11, 225) has done in his second year back from knee surgery. The coach added that juniors Gabe Vaiolo (6-1, 245) and Tyler Dhaemers (6-2, 230) and Caden Koedyker (6-1, 225) have had good camps. Koedyker also handles long-snapping duties.
Peterson sounded like someone trying and failing to temper his excitement when he looked into the future and pictured the player sophomore defensive end Christian Melton (6-1, 200) could become.
“We’re excited about potentially seeing him getting some time this season and continuing to grow and develop to help us to be a formidable front on defense in future seasons,” Peterson said.
Depth throughout the defense is slim, particularly up front.
Linebackers (Jerry Guess and David Sharp): Benicio Rivera moved to Alabama and Josh Davis graduated, but even so, this projects as the strongest unit on the defense.
Relentless, hard-hitting Roberto Stabolito (5-9, 185) led the team in tackles and no doubt bruises created last season, and fellow senior Lucas Anderson (5-11, 185) enters his third season as a starter.
Slowed by an ankle injury early in his junior season, Anderson has put that behind him, and according to Peterson has had as good a summer as anyone in the program.
The biggest body at the position belongs to junior Zane Westerlund (6-1, 225), who excited volleyball crowds with his leaping ability last spring.
“Zane has done a really fantastic job,” Peterson said. “He played a ton last season. He had a great sophomore year. He’s a force. He’s a force to be reckoned with. He’s a good one.”
Secondary (Taylor Brown): Logan Chestovich fits better at safety, where his knowledge and instincts will help him to lead the back of the defense, than at cornerback, where he started last season.
Junior Isaiah Prater starts at the other safety and senior Alex Zaris supplies depth.
Peterson sounded excited about the potential junior Peyton Dilbeck (6-0, 190) brings at cornerback. Dilbeck’s toughness showed itself during a JV basketball game last winter at Valparaiso. Guarding his man tightly, Dilbeck took an unintentional, hard smack to the face, showed no reaction, allowed his head to snap back into place and kept his feet moving the entire time. He’s not only tough, but according to Peterson, he’s “one of our five fastest guys on the team.”
Senior Luke Kisala starts at the other corner spot and brings some varsity experience to the position. Junior Bradley Robinson, a reserve receiver, is high on the depth chart in the secondary.
Overall, the Trojans have a higher ceiling on offense than defense, and even more than in most seasons will need to stay healthy because depth is an issue.
“We’re going to be young and we’re probably going to make some mistakes early,” Peterson said. “At the same time, we feel really positive about a lot of our growth in preparation for the season.”
Let the blocking and tackling, the grunting and groaning, commence.