Mishawaka runs past Portage with late TD

Updated: May 9, 2012 9:43AM

Portage played neck-and-neck with host Mishawaka on Friday night.

But the Cavemen, ranked in the Top 10 in Class 4A this preseason after suffering their only loss last season to Valparaiso in a Class 5A regional, scored the only points of the fourth quarter to come away with a 29-22 victory against the Indians.

Mishawaka quarterback Sam Schrader scored on a 3-yard run with 7:45 left in the game to cap a 73-yard drive.

“It’s one of those games, we have to figure out a way to win those close games,” said Portage coach Jeromy Flowers, whose team lost 23-21 to Crown Point in a sectional opener to end last season.

On their final possession, the Indians drove to the Mishawaka 31 before two penalties that negated a pair of completions contributed to pushing them back to their own 41. They surrendered the ball on downs with 1:56 left. Portage committed 11 penalties for 81 yards in the game.

“It was very heavy penalty-wise on our side,” Flowers said. “It seemed like something was thrown on us every other play.”

On its first series of the second half, Portage broke a 15-15 tie on Rashaan Coleman’s 3-yard touchdown run with 6:37 left in the third, after holding Mishawaka to a three-and-out.

The Cavemen responded with Matt Carver’s 3-yard touchdown with 1:09 left in the third, as he picked up the ball and ran it in after Khari Berning fumbled on a fourth-down play.

Junior running back Jeron Blake rumbled for 164 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries for the Indians. Coleman ran for two scores, and caught three passes for 76 yards.

“He did a good job,” Flowers said of Blake. “He did a better job of holding onto the ball. He’s a guy we hope gets better and better as the season goes on.”

For Mishawaka, which did not complete a pass in the game, Carver ran for 105 yards on six carries, and Khari Berning had 90 and a touchdown on 16. Dan Eggleston added 81 yards on eight carries, and Schrader ran for two TDs.

Portage scored the game’s first points. On the first play after an offside penalty on Mishawaka on fourth down gave the Indians a first down, Blake broke off a 54-yard touchdown run with 9:52 left in the first quarter.

Mishawaka’s first points came on a safety on an errant Portage snap. The Indians then put the free kick out of bounds, giving the Cavemen the ball at the Portage 45. Mishawaka turned that field position into Berning’s 34-yard touchdown for a 9-7 lead with 7:32 left in the first quarter.

The Cavemen extended their lead to 15-7 when Schrader scored on a 1-yard keeper with 10:20 left in the half, missing the extra point. Carver set up that touchdown with a weaving 62-yard run.

After the Indians recovered a fumble at their 36, they marched for a first-and-goal at the 6-yard line. But two Wildcat plays went awry, an illegal forward pass (beyond the line of scrimmage) wiped away a would-be touchdown and they missed a 40-yard field goal with 5:02 left in the half.

Still, Portage wound up tying the score at 15-15 heading into halftime.

The Indians got a safety when the Cavemen snapped a punt out of the end zone. Then, after Blake had done much of the heavy lifting, Portage scored on Coleman’s 3-yard run with 28.8 seconds left in the half, missing the extra point.

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