His No. 11 football jersey means a lot to Chesterton senior middle linebacker Robert Stabolito and he’s not ready to stop wearing it on Fridays

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Robert Stabolito is wearing his Chesterton Trojans No. 11 football jersey in class, so it must be Friday.
“Not a lot of people do anymore, but I always do,” Stabolito said. “It’s my thing. Every Friday at school I wear it, no matter what. It’s one of my superstitions.”
Not only that, it’s obvious the jersey means a lot to him, more now than ever since he’s a senior and when the season ends, his time playing the sport might as well.
Stabolito can smell the finish line and knows it arrives when Chesterton next loses a football game. Is there a better motivation for winning than that for an athlete who plays the game with as much passion and intensity as the Trojans’ two-year starter at middle linebacker?
Stabolito, third on the team in tackles behind fellow linebackers Lucas Anderson and Zane Westerlund, brings that motivation to the field tonight at home in a sectional opener vs. LaPorte. He was sidelined by injury in Chesterton’s 34-14 win over the Slicers on Sep. 14.
The winner moves on to face the winner of tonight’s Michigan City at Valparaiso game. For the loser, it’s a wrap.
“I’m big on emotions,” Stabolito said. “It’s all in my head right now. My head’s spinning. I mean, I’ve been doing this since I was 5, playing football. It’s getting to me.”
So, he’ll do what he always does to put his head in the right space when classes end at 3:10 p.m. and he heads to the locker room under the stadium. He’ll have his headphones on. Unlike many football players who use intense music with raw lyrics to get them into nasty mode, Stabolito goes in the other direction.
“I listen to cool music to calm me down,” he said. “I get really nervous during games, huge nerves, especially in front of our home crowd, huge nerves, so I need calm music. Backseat Lovers, The Wallows, Goo Goo Dolls.”
The Backseat Lovers song he never skips on game day is “Pool House.” And he feasts on turkey sandwiches, always turkey, after school. He’ll have snacks as the game draws closer.
He also has his maroon day routine, which has him lifting weights during the first block.
“I love lifting before games,” he said. “It makes me feel stretched out and ready.” On maroon days he also can head home for 90 minutes before returning to the locker room when classes let out. Other than that, the routine doesn’t vary.
Stabolito is known for his punishing tackles and he puts more force behind them than ever because as one of strength and conditioning coach Matt Wagner’s more committed workout warriors, he has brought his weight all the way to 190 pounds. He weighed 170 last season, 135 as a sophomore for the JV squad.
Those hits light up the team, but contributions in other areas seem to stoke his pride even more.
“I think one of my best things is working with the team,” he said. “Like on defense, I’m middle linebacker. I get everyone in the right spot. I’m really good at that. And rallying to tackles, I’m pretty good at that. I’m good at the team aspect. It’s a team game, 11 on 11.”
Which makes 11 the ideal jersey number for the player who at practice can be spotted calling out younger teammates when their focus wanders.
“I’m expected to be a leader. I’m trying my best,” he said.
Things that prompt Stabolito to use his authority include, “Messing around and talking when coaches are trying to teach us something. Or not giving effort at practice. If kids are just out there, just standing there, it’s not helping anything.”
That sort of police work benefits a team.
“Most kids listen to me,” a smiling Stabolito said. “I like that.”
He polices himself in the early hours after school and before pregame warmups, the music calming his brain, clearing his head.
Then after the team leaves the locker room for the field for pregame warmups, he emerges from his cocoon and plays a role in firing up teammates.
Stabolito and Wagner tend to be the most vocal during this portion of game day.
When Stabolito talks, rather yells, he delivers a message stolen from Roquan Smith of the Baltimore Ravens, another linebacker who battles pregame butterflies.
“It’s about playing four quarters of relentless football, punching the other team in the mouth the whole game through,” Stabolito said. “You can’t take any plays off.”
Stabolito is good at that, not taking any plays off. He plays in a way that suggests he knows this is not about him, not even all about him and teammates and coaches. He doesn’t take the support the team receives for granted. And now, with the clock on his high school football career ticking, he appreicates more than ever that many don’t ever get to feel the emotions he feels under Friday night lights, thousands watching the performers on the stage.
“It’s awesome,” Stabolito said. “It’s crazy. I wish everyone could experience what I feel when I’m out there, when the crowd’s cheering, when the band’s playing. Just to know the town has my back, it’s an amazing feeling.”
When the clock expires, win or lose, he’s not ready for his football Friday to end. So he joins a group that is bigger after wins than losses, a group of players, cheerleaders and spectators from the student section, and heads to Taco Bell for a postgame feast.
It’s a long day that in so many ways feels too short to him. He knows it can’t last forever, but will do all he can to make it last longer.