In a gesture of appreciation for student support and in an effort to draw even more loud and proud voices, Trojans coach Marc Urban is giving away T-shirts to first 100 students to buy Chesterton sectional tickets

Patrick Mochen
Onwardtrojans.com

A pair of terrific performances bookended the Chesterton boys basketball team’s season so far. The Trojans opened with a 73-55 win over state-ranked South Bend St. Joseph, and in their most recent game they slammed Valparaiso, 75-33.
The common denominator in those games, aside from the scores being different combinations of 7s, 5s and 3s? A chunk of the student population crammed into the northeast corner of the gym, and a group of seniors posed as ESPN reporters in the front row, creating a big-time Hoosier hoops hysteria feel on both nights.
If you ever wonder how much of an effect crowds can have on high school basketball games, to hear Chesterton 10th-year coach Marc Urban tell it, you need never wonder that again.
“What’s really fun is you’ve got Rob (Czarniecki) in there, you’ve got Peyton (Tarnowski) in there, guys who have played for the program and now they’re right out there leading it, and it makes such a big difference,” Urban said.
Both Czarniecki and Tarnowski are former players on the varsity team who now sit at the ESPN table during games, wearing sports jackets and neckties.
The Valparaiso game was themed blackout, as it always is. The student section went nuts when senior big man Caden Schneider hit a corner triple right in front of them. Another favorite theme was jersey night against LaPorte. Several students donned Chicago Bears jerseys, showing support for their team, which made it to the divisional round, as far as the Bears have been since 2010.
“It makes it a fun atmosphere," Urban said. “It brings juice to our guys. It obviously looks really good when we have a packed student section. Our guys play hard and you want to come root for guys who are going to play hard and do things the right way.”
Of course, the basketball team brings excitement themselves. Whether they are having a good night beyond the 3-point arc or can get a few slam dunks in the game, the team is the main factor driving the frenzy. They play the toughest of their sectional opponents, Portage, in the first round on March 3, 2026.
In a gesture of appreciation for the student support and in an effort to draw a season-high student turnout, Urban will be supplying promotional T-shirts to go with the sale of tickets.
“We’re buying a hundred shirts that we’re not even giving to our team,” Urban said. “They’re strictly for the first hundred students who buy a sectional ticket. So, you buy a sectional ticket, you get a free T-shirt. Sizes, I don’t know how that’s going to go, but the first hundred students who buy a sectional ticket, we’re giving a shirt because they make such a difference."
Students interested in snagging one of the 100 T-shirts can go to the athletic office and either buy a ticket for the three-round sectional tournament ($20 cash for all three nights) or prove that they bought a ticket online. The shirts only go to the first 100 students to get a ticket at the athletic office.