Portage dethrones Trojans

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VALPARAISO -- All it took for Portage to end a four-game boys soccer losing streak to Duneland Conference rival Chesterton was a great effort from a tough senior forward, Joey Higgins.

How tough is he?

Despite having his right hand bandaged with a small cast on it -- he broke it in the middle of the season against Crown Point -- Higgins scored twice on Thursday against the Trojans, who were the two-time defending regional champions.

They won't be much longer, as Portage d-throned Chesterton 3-1 in the second semi-final of the Wheeler Sectional. Portage will face Valparaiso in Saturday's championship after the Vikings defeated Wheeler 5-1 in the first semifinal.

Higgins' first goal got the Indians on the board less than nine minutes into the contest. His second one with 25:20 left in the second half stopped the Trojans' momentum.

"That was huge," Portage coach Todd Strom said. "When Joey got that goal it opened more opportunities for us and we didn't let up."

That second goal also swung the pendulum back to the Indians after Chesterton's Mavrick Tumblin tied at game at 1-1 only 44 seconds into the second half.

"Right off the restart in the second half we got called for a foul," Strom said. "For the next 10 minutes (after the goal) it was flat for both teams."

Higgins and the rest of his teammates used the last regular season game against Chesterton as incentive to break the mini losing streak.

"We were out-shot 33 to 11 in that game and we lost," he said. "That's almost embarrassing. We worked hard to prepare for this game and it's great to see the hard work pay off."

Portage's Christian Cherry scored with 14:57 left off a rebound from a Higgins shot.

Valparaiso rolls into the sectional final after surviving a slight scare against the host Bearcats.

Wheeler took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half on a goal by Stefen Witham off a throw-in by Jordan Truchan. You would think the Wheeler sideline would be ecstatic, but coach John Hutchins was only cautiously optimistic.

"It's hard when you get an early lead on a team like that because you know they're going to come back hard," he said. "The score was not indicative of how well we played."

But it was indicative of how much talent the Vikings had on the other side. Goals by Ben Wallace, Gerrad Akright, George Bukur and Torrey Brock put the game out of reach.

"We talked before the game about coming out flat," Valparaiso coach Danny Jeftich said. "but our inability to control the midfield was the difference in the beginning. That's a very hard-working Wheeler team over there. I'm very proud of our team. They responded well after the start."