Chesterton senior Andrew Goveia, a human sledgehammer of a running back, smashes Valpo’s 14-game winning streak in the rivalry series to death, 24-16, with 193 yards

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Nothing lasts forever, but for a brief eternity Friday night at Chesterton Stadium it seemed as though the Valparaiso football spell cast on the Trojans would be an exception to that rule.
But a beautiful, long Hail Mary pass from Valpo quarterback Kellan Hosek, which had everything but the Amen, trickled off the fingers of the receiver on fourth-and-10 and Chesterton had itself its first win against the Vikings in 10 years, 24-16.
“I’m not going to lie, that really scared me,” Chesterton receiver Gus Wisch said, “I thought he was going to catch that.”
The collective sigh from the home stands was a decade in the making. Valpo’s win streak in the rivalry ended at 14 games. If the receiver had caught the pass and stayed on his feet, he could have taken it to the end zone. A successful two-point conversion would have made overtime the most likely destination.
Instead, the Trojans defeated the high school to the south for the first time since Oct. 23, 2015, and so many players, most of them seniors, had a hand in it.
“That chip’s been on our shoulder since I can remember,” said linebacker Lucas Anderson, who had nine tackles and for the third week in a row picked off a pass, this one late in the fourth quarter to end Valpo’s final threat, save the Hail Mary pass, in Chesterton territory. “Our run game was going crazy and that set up our pass game, and we got our offense flowing. Our offense did amazing tonight.”
First and foremost, running back Andrew Goveia used his healthy blockers masterfully, patiently slithering his way to 193 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Goveia graciously shared the credit with his blockers.
“It all starts up front,” he said. “This is the first game we’ve had all our blockers (tight end Mike) Rone included, since the first half against Morton (Week 2) and it felt great. That’s what we can do.”
Carlos Leon, no longer hobbled by an ankle injury, moved from center to guard. Jack Gearhart played center. Veteran starters Braxton Ozug and Tyler Nevious and junior Kameron Elliott rounded out the O-line. The return of Rone, sidelined the previous two weeks, fortified the blocking.
“He had a great game,” Leon said of Goveia. “He came in with such a great energy and I feel like he brought us all up to his level. He was amazing.”
If Goveia were paid by the carry, he could afford to pay for the construction of an elevator to the press box, should anyone happen to feel the need for that.
Goveia carried it 38 times, keeping the clock tick, tick, ticking, and keeping Hosek and the Trojans’ secondary on the sideline, where no harm could be done to the streak-busting chances.
Goveia’s dominance, coupled with the ability of sophomore quarterback Hunter Boyd with (5 for 10, 92 yards, two touchdowns) to sell play-action fakes, and the extra attention paid to fleet receiver Louis Raffin helped others to get open downfield. Boyd didn’t always hit them. The lefty did toss a few beauties, including a 38-yard touchdown to Patrick Mochen, who caught the accurate throw at the 3 and took it in. Boyd also led Wisch perfectly on a slant for a 19-yard TD.
“You get nights like this where lots of guys will double down on Louis (Raffin), following him all over the place,” Peterson said. “It makes it hard for us to get the ball to him. In the same breath, we were able to get the ball to other guys.”
Boyd and Wisch have developed a strong connection, one that yielded four completions totaling 54 yards in the big win.
“He’s been a huge target,” Boyd said of Wisch. “He was hurt Week 2 and 3 against Morton and Michigan City, and it’s been great having him back the past two games.”
The defense and special teams had no shortage of big playmakers as well, led by Anderson the backbone of the defense in a way Goveia is for the offense.
Juniors Zane Westerlund, a linebacker, and defensive end Gabe Vaiolo make their presence felt more loudly by the week. They teamed on a big hit of Hosek, sandwiching him into fumbling the ball for a 14-yard loss on third down in the fourth quarter. Vaoila added a sack to his big night.
Juniors Bradley Robinson, a return man, and kicker Mace Redman contributed to the cause in a big way as well.
Robinson returned a punt 29 yards to let the offense start a drive at the 50 and finish it in the end zone.
Redman nailed a 41-yard field goal and hammered multiple kickoffs in the end zone.
Vikings receivers didn’t always let Robinson get away with being out of position from his cornerback spot, but he made the most of a punt return that started with a glitch.
“I was tracking the ball and then I happened to look at a Valpo player and I said, ‘Oh shoot! I lost the ball,’ because it was so dark, so it ended up coming behind me. I was like ‘Oh shoot! I have to go get that,” Robinson said. “I saw no one was coming up on my side so I took it all the way to the left and I tried to cut it back in, but I should have stayed on the outside and taken it in, hopefully for a touchdown, but it was a good return.”
As the players celebrated, posing for photos with the big milk jug that the winner keeps until losing a game in the series, Chesterton coach Mark Peterson stood at midfield and via reporters went to work at spreading the message that the win was more a beginning than an ending, a step toward bigger goals.
The schools are located on the same street that changes names from Meridien Street on the Chesterton side and Campbell Street in Valpo. The Vikings call the jug the Campbell Cup, the Trojans call it the Meridien Cup. It symbolizes a dairy from Sunset Hill Farm where folks from both towns bought their milk.
“It’s exciting. This is fun. This is high school football., but I don’t think that we’re going to get overly emotional about this,” Peterson said. “Kids are enjoying it. They’re having fun. Every time they win, they have fun with it, so let’s let our kids have fun with it. At the same time, we’re going back to work tomorrow. We still have a lot of work to do. We have Portage and Lake Central, Crown Point and Merrillville.”
The Trojans have a 3-2 overall record and a 2-1 mark in DAC play, one game behind with unbeaten Crown Point and tied with Merrillville and Michigan City.
The game started like a heavyweight prize fight with both sides looking for openings and unable to land big moments. Valpo’s 41-yard field goal with 1:03 left in the first quarter was the only scoring play until Goveia’s 2-yard touchdown run with 7:03 left in the half. Redman’s extra point made it 7-3. The Vikings (1-4, 1-2) never caught up and the Trojans never ran away with it.
Boyd’s long throw to Mochen a few yards in front of the left corner of the end zone with 2:44 left in the first half and Redman’s conversion gave Chesterton a 14-3 lead, but any thought of a runaway win quickly vanished when Hosek completed 6 of 10 passes for 68 yards, leading the visitors on a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Hosek’s 7-yard TD pass to Troy Danzi on the final play of the half.
Nine plays after Robinson’s punt return, eight of the plays Goveia runs, the halftime lead grew to 21-10 after Boyd’s 19-yard, play-action TD pass to Wisch. Again, Valpo came back to draw within a score when Hosek and Chase Lovig hooked up on a 9-yard TD pass. The two-point conversion pass failed, and Chesterton led 21-16.
Redman’s 41-yard field goal gave Chesterton a 24-16 lead with 8:23 left.
Hosek wasn’t done yet putting pressure on the secondary, as Valpo took over on its own 24. Hosek threw a 25-yard completion to Sam Venard to move the ball to the Chesterton 38, where on second-and-10, Anderson stepped in front of a pass for his third interception in three weeks.
The dropped pass dropped the gavel on the final verdict. Some of the players were as young as 5 when Chesterton last defeated its rival. The rivalry streak started in the wake of Peterson winning 4 of 5 Valpo games to start his Chesterton career.
“I don’t really care about the streak because we beat them 4 out of 5 prior to that,” Peterson said. “I say this with all due respect: They’ve had multiple Division I kids over the last nine years and we haven’t. But I don’t make it a quote that they have better players because we lost a lot of those games by three or two or one or seven.”
Last season, Chesterton lost at Valpo in the regular season, 22-21, on a trick play that had a receiver throwing to the quarterback on the winning two-point conversion in overtime. Valpo won the rematch in the sectional title game, again at home, 28-21.
In 2022, the year Valparaiso won the 5A state title, Chesterton lost at home to Valpo 19-13 in the regular season and 14-7 on the road in the sectional title game.
“This is a nice win,” Peterson said. “This is a really nice win, but at the same time, we’re playing Portage next week.”