Valpo pulls away to beat Indians

Valparaiso's Eric Jackson (22) crosses the goal line for the Vikings against Portage.
(Michael McArdle/Post-Tribune)

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VALPARAISO — You’ll look at this score and think Valparaiso put another hurting on Portage. No, not really.

Despite coming away with a 42-19 victory over Portage in the opening round of Class 5A Sectional 1 on Friday, the No. 6 Vikings only led this one by three points with less than six minutes to play.

Truth be told, a few wacky turn of events, including five second-half Portage turnovers, led to the somewhat lopsided margin, setting up a semifinal rematch with Chesterton at Viking Field.

“Portage is a good football team; they played hard,” Valparaiso coach Mark Hoffman said. “I told our kids all week, we don’t take Portage lightly. It’s not like we weren’t ready to play.”

Nevertheless, the Indians were ready to play and rolled out fourth-string quarterback Austin Orlich to lead the charge.

Orlich, normally a running back, filled in for freshman Kris Kneis, who was out injured after playing just one week at QB in place of sophomore Eric Melcic.

The Indians led 12-0 early in the second quarter on an Orlich 1-yard touchdown and, later, a shovel pass from Orlich to Jake Dixon that resulted in a 60-yard score.

“He had to do anything and everything we asked of him,” Portage coach Mark Peterson said of Orlich.

The Vikings (9-1) answered with 72-yard touchdown pass play from Zach Livovich to Kevin Piet to pull within 12-7 by halftime. Then Valparaiso’s defense began to take over.

A Tony Gallinatti fumble recovery deep in Portage territory set up a 3-yard TD pass from Livovich to Michael Perkins to give the Vikings a 15-12 lead with 4:10 to play in the third quarter.

On the Indians’ next possession, Orlich was hit as he threw on third-and-long, and Valparaiso’s Zach Thomas intercepted the pass, returning it 37 yards to Portage’s 19.

Eric Jackson scored two plays later from 4 yards out for a 21-12 Vikings advantage late in the third quarter.

“We went out there and just did our jobs (in the second half),” Gallinatti said. “We knew what we had to do. We screwed up on a couple of plays in the first half; it happens. We came out in the second half and played hard-nosed football.”

Portage (6-4) wasn’t finished, though. The Indians recovered a muffed Valparaiso punt and later scored on a 13-yard TD run by Orlich to pull within 22-19 with 8:05 left in the game.

The Vikings responded with a six-play, 59-yard drive, capped by a Livovich 7-yard TD run with 5:11 to play for a 29-19 Valparaiso cushion.

That still didn’t put the Indians away. They appeared to be going in for a score that could have pulled them within three again with just over four minutes to play.

But as Orlich was being tackled at the end of a 27-yard run, he fumbled the ball into the end zone and out of bounds. The officials ruled he fumbled the ball before crossing the goal line, meaning it was a Valparaiso touchback, giving the Vikings the ball at their own 20-yard line.

“I asked them to review it,” Peterson said only half jokingly.

From there, Valparaiso ran out the clock with a late Perkins touchdown run and a 21-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by defensive lineman Alex Paul.

The Indians fumbled 11 times and lost five of them in the wet conditions. They also threw two interceptions.

“Two of their touchdowns came off untimely turnovers,” Peterson said. “That’s unfortunately been the tale of the tape as the season has gone on.”