A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
History: Portage won 19-15 in September at Crown Point after the Bulldogs led most of the way. The Indians have won 10 of the last 11 meetings between the schools.
Parking: Portage is the biggest school in northwest Indiana and they have a 5,000-seat stadium. There will not be anything near a sellout.
Directions:
Portage High is located at 6450 US Highway 6 in Portage. Take I-65 to US.
6 and head east through Hobart about 10 miles. The high school is on the left
(north) side of Route 6 after a large K-Mart. Honestly, if you can't find this
school you shouldn't be out after dark.
8-23-2002:
38-0 East Chicago (3-7) Adam Hasiak: 24 of 31, 271 yards.
8-30-2002: 31-0 Lake Central (5-5) Adam Hasiak: 22 of 31, 271 yards.
9-6-2002: 27-0 at Hobart (2-8) Portage intercepted four passes.
9-13-2002: 28-14 Merrillville (4-6) Adam Hasiak: 16 of 32, 188 yards.
9-20-2002: 19-15 at Crown Point (8-2) Portage was outgained 303-253.
9-27-2002: 40-42 at Chesterton (6-4) Adam Hasiak: 29 of 50, 417
yards. Portage allowed 437 yards rushing.
10-4-2002: 34-0 Michigan City (2-8) MC held to 97 total yards.
10-11-2002: 7-31 at Valparaiso (9-1) Valpo outgained Portage
332-141.
10-18-2002: 27-40 LaPorte (6-4) Portage had four turnovers.
10-25-2002: 36-18 at East Chicago (3-7) The game was tied 12-12 at the
half.
PORTAGE
UPDATE:
Portage dominated the 1990s going 67-19 in the seven seasons from 1993-99. The
run ended when LC beat Portage in sectional play 30-27 in 1999 and 21-7 in 2000.
Valparaiso rolled over Portage 32-14 last season on the Vikings' way to the
state finals.
The Indians are a fun team to watch with a four wide receiver offense led by senior QB Adam Hasiak (172 of 280 for 2,156 yards) throwing to Dan Paulsen (64 catches, 720 yards) and many others in a balanced passing attack.
Portage lost three games late in the year but the offense always showed up, averaging 28.7 points per game in the toughest league in northwest Indiana. Portage has undergone some position changes. Milton Rivera caught 20 passes in the first three games before getting injured. He has not been a significant factor in the second half of the season although he has returned to active duty.
Early in the season, Steve Vaught handled the place-kicking. Vaught no longer kicks and has disappeared as a significant factor. He may also be injured. High schools do not announce injuries. Others have come to the front. Portage never lacks players.
Halfback Paul Red has nine TDs and fullback Mark Fleming has scored four touchdowns in the last four games.
Defense has been a problem lately. The Indians have given up 900 yards in the last three weeks including 481 yards rushing. Last week, the injury train kept rolling. Mark Sedoris suffered a concussion and was taken to the hospital. Chuckie Severs, who scored the winning TD against CP in September, left the game at East Chicago with an ankle injury.
What
ever the reasons, Portage is not a fundamentally sound team right now. They
failed on all five conversion attempts last week and they gave up a kickoff
return TD two weeks ago against LaPorte.
CROWN POINT UPDATE: The Bulldog offense was in top form last week,
rolling up 384 yards and committing no turnovers in the 34-14 win over
Chesterton. Matt Cowan (101 of 179, 1,390 yards, 13 TDs, 3 interceptions) hit 17
of 24 for 259 yards. Tight end Sean O'Drobinak caught 10 passes for 170 yards
and two TDs. He will be a significant problem for the depleted Portage
secondary.
Crown Point successfully moved power tailback Dave Swenson (6-0, 220) back to the offensive line (he began there as a sophomore) to replace injured starter Riste Jakimoski, who is out for the year with an ACL (knee) problem. Chris Kutanovski (6-0, 205) moved to tailback again last week and gained 72 yards on 18 carries.
Chesterton
did run 28 times for 167 yards and Portage will try to run the ball if weather
conditions are as bad as predicted. The Bulldogs have Swenson, Kutanovski,
O'Drobinak and Bobby Rutherford (among others) playing on both sides of the ball
but many teams go to that once the playoffs begin.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN?: Crown Point may get in the end zone early
but Portage will play an inspired game. They'll lead 14-7 or 17-14 at the half .
But Crown point will begin to control both lines in the third quarter and
they'll get another big game out of Kutanovski, who appears to be a natural
ballcarrier.
Portage
will struggle with field goals and extra points and that will hurt them because
Kutanovski is solid in those areas. Crown Point will return to power football in
the late going with Kutanovski and Rutherford running behind lead blocker Troy
Bush.
Something is wrong at Portage. They are nowhere near the defensive force they
were in August and September and their offense is under a lot of pressure to
score big. Crown Point does a lot of the same things Portage does on offense but
they do have that power running capability against a Portage team that is not
overly large.
CP will score on two sustained drives in the second half to take the lead and then hold off a Portage rally. Adam Hasiak throws 40 passes but Chris Kutanovski runs for 100 yards as the Bulldogs exorcise one of their great demons of the 1990s with a playoff win at Portage.
DOG
NOTES: Crown Point has won eight times for the first time since
1997 when the Bulldogs were 8-3. CP's last nine-win season was 1991 when
present-day coach Chip Pettit was playing quarterback for the Bulldogs. Here's a
scoring question. Matt Cowan threw a 7-yard pass to Sean O'Drobinak last week
who lateralled to Chris Kutanovski. Kutanovski ran 35 yards for CP's first TD.
Does Cowan get a touchdown pass? Does he get 7 passing yards or 42?. Does
O'Drobinak get a reception? Does Kutanovski get a reception or a carry for 35
yards?
Kutanovski scored 3 TDs for the second game in a row. Bobby Rutherford scored
seven TDs in a two-game period against East Chicago and Merrillville earlier
this year. CP averages 27.6 points per game but they have allowed a TD on the
opposition's first possession in each of the last two games.
CROWN
POINT - Crown Point led 7-0 and 13-6 but fell at home to a second half
rally. CP outgained the Indians 321-276 with Matt Cowan hitting 21 of 33 for 241
yards. Sean O'Drobinak caught nine passes for 93 yards and a TD. Dan Paulsen's
12-yard TD catch tied the game with 1:36 left in the third quarter and Chuckie
Severs'4-yard run won the game with 2:48 left. An intentional safety created the
odd final score.
CROWN PONT - One of the greatest games ever at Crown Point. Portage was 13-1 in 1994 losing in the state title game. In '95, they were 10-0 coming to play a CP team that was 7-3. On a cold night with temperatures in the 30s, CP rallied from a 7-0 deficit on a 3-yard run by Geremy Milner and a 1-yard fourth quarter sweep by all purpose player David Warne. Portage QB Nick Wellman, who is now a QB coach with Portage, hit end Tommy Bonez for a 17-yard score to tie the game in the late going after a controversial pass interference call against Mike Myers.
In
overtime, CP's Rick Hurey’s sixth field goal of the year gave CP a 17-14 lead
before Joe Christin's 5-yard run on second down won the game. CP outgained
Portage 230-202 and, to this day, debates the pass interference against Myers on
fourth down in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. Portage lost 21-8 at
Penn the next week. Crown Point has not returned to the sectional championship
game since that night.