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Cave Spring's Chris Van Teal (white) controls a header over Hidden Valley's Parker Walsh on Thursday evening.

KYLE GREEN | The Roanoke Times

Hidden Valley's Will Dooling (blue), controls a header against Cave Spring's Andreas Morales.

Hidden Valley's Ben Radford (left), Will Hare (middle) and Sebastian Lopez celebrate Radford's winning goal.

Previously a big fish in a small pond, Ben Radford was a big fish in a big pond Thursday night.

Radford, a transfer from Faith Christian, broke a scoreless tie with 5:44 remaining at Dwight Bogle Stadium and Hidden Valley went on to beat Cave Spring 1-0 in the Region IV boys' soccer semifinals.

The Titans (14-3-1) will meet Blacksburg at 7:30 tonight at Bogle. The Bruins (20-0) thrashed Martinsville 7-0, with seniors Tim Becker and Michael Breske scoring two goals apiece.

"They've got our number," said Martinsville coach Pete Scourdas, whose Bulldogs finished 14-4-1, "but we're not the only one. I think a lot of people are scratching their heads over what to do with Blacksburg."

It was the 30th straight victory over two seasons for Blacksburg, which has a 44-game unbeaten streak. Once the Bruins extended their lead to 5-0 early in the second half, coaches Travis Bishop and Jon Bohland were able to substitute liberally.

Blacksburg and Hidden Valley already have clinched berths in the Group AA state tournament, "but [Friday's] game is about whether we host our next game or travel," Bohland said.

"We've never won a state tournament without first winning a regional."

Hidden Valley hasn't been a high school for very long, but the Titans had never made it past the Region IV semifinals before Thursday.

They had beaten Cave Spring (11-9-2) three times this season before Thursday night, but the more times the teams met, the narrower the margin had gotten -- 4-0, 3-0, then 2-1 in the River Ridge District tournament.

Hidden Valley had a 2-0 cushion in the district tournament, but there was no time to relax Thursday against a Cave Spring team playing its last game under Will Simpson.

"It's a tough way to go out," said Simpson, who cited personal reasons for his resignation, particularly a desire to spend more time with his 3-year-old son.

"We lost some of those regular season games pretty handily but it was still a game with five minutes left. It took a great serve into the box and a great finish to beat us."

The play started with Dayton Steele making a run down the right side, then centering a ball that may have nicked the head of another Titans' player before Radford one-timed it past Cave Spring goalie Will Dooley, who had been making big saves all night.

"I don't know whether Steele should get the assist or not," Hidden Valley coach Sean Pratt said, "but he earned it."

Radford, a sophomore midfielder, had scored two goals in an earlier matchup with Cave Spring but had been overshadowed by teammates in postseason All-River Ridge balloting.

If it was attention Radford craved, he might have stayed at Faith Christian, where he was one of the leading scorers and remembers serving as a captain last year as a freshman.

"Soccer wasn't the primary reason I came to Hidden Valley," Radford said, "but it was second or third on the list."

The Titans know the challenge in front of them. Blacksburg has four seniors who have committed to play Division I soccer next year, Breske and Jeremy Williams at Virginia Tech and the Becker twins, Matt and Tim, at William and Mary.

Matt Becker has been lost since the fourth game of the season, when he suffered a broken tibia in his left leg, but he continues to contribute as a statistician and unofficial team sports information director.

He reports that his brother, Tim, has 32 goals this season and 103 for his career.

The school record is 34 goals in a season, set by Tim Becker last year.

The Bruins would be even stouter with an able-bodied Matt Becker, "but it doesn't matter what the names are," Martinsville's Scourdas said. "They're losing something like 16 seniors but we all know we still have to go through Blacksburg."