Andrew Goveia keeps the chains and the clock moving to lead Chesterton to 20-19 victory over Hammond Morton and kicker Mace Redman adds finishing touches with game-winning 33-yard field goal

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com
The MVP of the Chesterton defense in a 20-19 victory over Hammond Morton in Friday night’s home opener didn’t play a single defensive snap.
For most of the night it didn’t matter how fast Morton’s offense was because they were on the sideline watching Chesterton running back Andrew Goveia sidestep, shed and bowl over potential tacklers. Goveia kept the chain gang, including Paul Blosser in his 56th year on the job, busy.
“Our defensive guys did a great job of bend-but-don’t-break kind of mentality tonight, but the biggest thing that helped us was our ability to maintain possession,” Chesterton coach Mark Petersons said.
Goveia, who rushed for an unofficial 168 yards on 37 carries, ensured that the Trojans dominated possession by steadily eating clock and yardage. He never let Morton get too far away on he scoreboard, keeping it close so that junior kicker Mace Redman could win it with a 33-yard field goal with 5:32 left for the game’s final points. The no-doubt-about-it kick had at least 10 yards to spare.
Morton took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when Cordero Bennett Jr. scored on a 4-yard run and then Goveia went to work.
Chesterton responded with a drive of 75 yards to the 1. Oher than penalties and Hunter Boyd completions of 11 yards to Mike Rone and 10 to Louis Raffin, it was all Goveia. But the Governors stopped him on fourth-and-1, ending the eight-minute march.
On Morton’s second-and-8 from the 3, junior linebacker Zane Westerlund made the biggest play of his big night, dropping freshman quarterback Amari Price in the end zone for a safety, trimming Morton’s lead to 7-2.
After the post-safety free kick, Chesterton took over at the Morton 45, and 10 plays later, eight of them Goveia rushes, one a one-handed catch by Mike Rone for a 12-yard gain, Goveia scored on a 14-yard run with 4:25 remaining in the half.
Up 8-7, Peterson called a timeout and opted for a two-point conversion. Late in the week, the head coach reached into his memory bank for a nifty misdirection play, and he said the players didn’t rep it until Thursday, plenty of time to get it down, as it turned out.
Everyone in the stadium, which was heavily populated on the Chesterton side and sparsely so on the visiting side, expected the ball to go to Goveia. Boyd slickly sold a fake pitch to Goveia, and the defenders moved right. Boyd then gave the ball to a senior Patrick Mochen on an inside handoff as he was running left and Mochen took it into the end zone to put the Trojans up 10-7.
After a three-and-out Morton punt, Chesterton again started a drive at the Morton 45, and Goveia again did his thing, rushing for gains of 19, 8, 7 and 3 yards to set up a second-and-7 at the 8.
Then a pair of non-seniors who put the points on the board. Junior Max Redman scored his first varsity touchdown on and an 8-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Hunter Boyd, his first TD throw.
“I was supposed to run a 5-yard out and the corner on me was playing off, so I knew I could run my route to where I was just in the end zone,” Soffin said. “So, I ran my route, and I had to wait for Hunter. He rolled out and I was just waiting there in the end zone.”
Soffin was at the front corner, where the sideline meets the goal line, an open window for Boyd, but a small opening with little margin for error.
“Perfect ball,” Soffin said. “I was ecstatic. It was awesome. My first one.”
Peterson called it, “a heck of a catch, tightrope walking down the sideline. Max got right to the spot, kept his feet steady and hauled it in. It was fantastic.”
Soffin was still fired up as he readied himself to hold for Redman, who made the extra point to give the Trojans a 17-7 lead with 48.3 seconds remaining in a half in which Morton had just four possessions, plus one play at the end.
But the Trojans didn’t have anything sewed up yet and would trail before the night was over.
Offensive tackle Braxton Ozug was back in the lineup after missing the opener, joining returning senior starters Carlos Leon and Tyler Nevious to open holes for Goveia. Leon, named to the junior class all-state team, rolled his ankle late and did not return, missing the second half, making the yards more difficult to come by for Goveia.
After a three-and-out, Morton took over at the 33. Missing Kentucky-bound offensive tackle Cameron Miller, sidelined for the night by an apparent knee injury suffered on the third play of the game, the Governors had more success in the air than on the ground all night.
The Governors went on a long drive capped by Price’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Marcus McBride to cut the hosts lead to 17-13.
Senior linebacker Roberto Stabolito made the biggest play of his big night and blocked the extra point.
“I knew with my speed I could get there,” Stabolito said. “The first kick I saw they didn’t block me. I didn’t try as hard to block that one. That’s my fault. I should have gotten the first one. The next one was a big moment in the game. It changed the game completely.”
When all the points were tallied, it changed the game from a win for Chesterton to a game that must be decided in overtime.
Another three and out and punt gave the ball back to Morton at the 18. Heating up, Price completed 3 of 3 passes for 53 yards and rushed for a big gain on the seven-play 82-yard drive. Bennett scored his second touchdown of the night, this time on a 14-yard reception, giving the Governors a 19-17 lead with 11:28 left in the game.
The chart NFL coaches use say that teams trailing by two points in that situation should kick the extra point. Morton went for two and the run was stopped.
Time for Goveia to do his thing, aided by blockers Kameron Elliott, a junior, and senior Jack Gearhart, cited by Peterson for doing strong work on the winning drive. Goveia pounded out runs of 3,5,7,2,6,5, and 1 and Soffin gained 5 yards on a run to set up third-and-4. The Governors’ defense hardened and limited Goveia to 1 yard, bringing the field goal unit onto the field for Redman to give the Trojans the slightest lead.
But Price wasn’t done showing why he is such a highly regarded freshman just yet.
On third and 8, he got the 8 yards on a throw to Ameer Daniels, then after a Gabe Vaiolo sack, Price connected with the speedy McBride on a 31-yard pass play.
Morton’s last chance came down to fourth-and-8 from the Chesterton 37. Price dropped back to pass, and the Trojans had everybody covered, so he took off running, needing to get to the 29 for the first down.
“I’m playing coverage, he’s scrambling, I see him come down and I’ve got to make a play, game on the line, we’ve got no time, if they score it’s over, so I’ve got to come down and make a stop,” senior safety Logan Chestovich said.
And he did, tackling Price near the right sideline. But did he bring him down shy of the first down? Too close for the naked eye to tell, so the chain gang came across the field to measure.
Chestovich made the stop inches short of the first down and the Trojans took over with 1:05 remaining. In keeping with a night of efficient clock management for the narrow victors, the Trojans killed the clock.
“It’s a team game,” Chestovich said, trying to share the credit for the pivotal play. “All 11 guys it took to make that play, so I put it on my teammates.”
Actually, it was Chestovich on that play, but he’s right that it took all 11 players on both sides of the ball and on special teams to pull it out.
Several Trojans had big nights.
Right from the start, junior cornerback Peyton Dilbeck sent a statement to the Governors that the defense they saw on film from Week 1 was not going to be the one they faced.
On the night’s fourth play from scrimmage, Dilbeck, coming to the offense’s right side of the field, used a quick burst of speed to get into the backfield and drop Mike Walker for a 7-yard loss. On the next play, on the other side of the field, Dilbeck rocked the intended receiver so hard as soon as he touched the ball that he dropped it.
“I was really hyped before the game,” Dilbeck said. “In my mind I had to go out there and hit somebody.”
Both teams came out of the night with 1-1 records. In Week 1, Morton dominated the second half to defeat Portage, 35-7. Chesterton lost at Hobart, 20-3.
“That loss hit us hard,” said senior linebacker Lucas Anderson, who had a productive night. “We needed to come back. We needed this.”
Anderson, Stabolito and Chestovich explained how Chesterton was able to keep the Governors’ considerable speed advantage from determining the winner.
“It’s all technique, staying disciplined,” Anderson said. “We know what we’re doing. We know what they’re doing from film. You just have to know.”
Stabolito: “We just did our jobs. We’re told a job, we study our film, we get where we’re supposed to be, and we make tackles.”
Chestovich: “Play our game. All week we talked about we know they’re faster than us. We just have to be smart and read our keys.”
Offensively, Boyd had a solid second varsity game and had a favorite target in Rone.
“Mike Rone had a couple of really fantastic catches, a couple of one-handers, one behind his back, huge contribution,” Peterson said. “Defensively, I felt like Zane played really, really well, did a really nice job, and Peyton Dilbeck is really coming along doing some great things. Logan’s continuing to get more confidence at the safety position and Bobby and Lucas are just stalwarts at the linebacker position for us. (Defensive linemen) Colin Kellogg, Gabe Vaiola, Tyler Dhaemers and Matt Batusic did a nice job as well.”
Their confidence lifted by a close victory, the Trojans open the seven-game DAC portion of the schedule Friday at Ames Field against Michigan City, which is 1-1 and coming off a 46-29 loss at Lafayette Jefferson.