Dixon runs for 216 yards in Portage shutout of Chesterton

CHESTERTON | The game plan for Portage coming into Friday's Class 5A Sectional 1 semifinal was to get Jake Dixon 35 touches.

"We felt like we weren't getting the ball in Jake's hands as much as we wanted to," Indians coach Mark Peterson said.

Peterson came up one short of his target number, but the junior phenom did plenty as it was. In addition to one pass, Dixon ran 33 times for 216 yards, including an 80-yard first-quarter touchdown dash out of the Wildcat formation that proved to be all the scoring the Indians would need in a 14-0 blanking of Chesterton.

"The coaches said they wanted to put the ball in my hands a lot," Dixon said after a celebratory slide through the mud. "The line was blocking great and I just tried to make reads off the blocks. We just had to keep chipping away."

Portage went 74 yards on 12 plays in the second quarter, scoring in the final seconds of the half on Zach Huston's 3-yard fade pass that Drew Keil hauled down in the corner of the end zone. It then turned the ball over to Dixon and the defense. Dixon killed clock with 18 second-half carries and the Indians kept the Trojans' offense in neutral. Chesterton threatened twice in the fourth quarter, reaching the Portage 19 each time, but was stopped on downs. Keil also picked up an interception.

"Everything they did, we stopped," inside linebacker Justin Rhein said. "Our scout offense ran the same exact plays all week so we got a look at everything we could possibly get. We knew it would be a muddy field so we didn't practice on turf once. We practiced on grass and coach flooded it so we'd be used to it."

Peterson refuted the flooding ploy, saying Mother Nature took care of that herself. Either way, the strategy worked. The Indians (6-5) limited Chesterton (7-4) to 137 total yards in posting back-to-back shutouts.

"Consistency on defense has hurt us all year, but we've taken some steps," Peterson said. "We're getting more consistent linebacker play and defensive line play. We're peaking at the right time, I guess."

Trojans quarterback Jon Watson was bottled up by Portage's defense, managing a season-low 44 yards, 28 coming on one carry.

"They were cutting our interior linemen, which allowed their linebackers to run free," Chesterton coach John Snyder said. "We had some shots (passing) early that we missed. We shot ourselves in foot, but you've got to give Portage a lot of credit. Dixon's obviously a stud."

PREP FOOTBALL

Class 5A Sectional 1

Semifinals

Portage 14, Chesterton 0

The Indians recorded their second straight sectional shutout.