Eagles fly by Pleasant Valley in opener

Friday night did not turn out to be the season-opener that Pleasant Valley head coach Jim Terwilliger was looking for.

Although the Bears had the majority of their team back from last year's 5-5 team, one probably wouldn't have been able to tell if they watched last night's contest against Nazareth. The Pleasant Valley offense mustered only 160 total yards (107 on the ground) and failed to move inside the Eagles' 29-yard-line.

Meanwhile, Nazareth's Chuck Dibilio ran for 131 yards and score in the first half alone and helped his team run away with a 38-0 non-league victory.

"A number of different things went wrong," Terwilliger said sternly. "We have to take a step back and look at what we did wrong. Some mistakes were 'first-game jitter' mistakes, but some were things that you don't expect from a team that is (retuning most of its players).

"We are not where we want to be right now. We have to work. I think, as a whole, our team mentality has been to work hard and change. Well, we need to work a little bit harder right now and take a look at who we are."

Pleasant Valley started off the game on a good note, as it drove 34 yards in 11 plays. The Bears even got a little lucky when a third-down pass was deflected and ended up in the hands of tailback Rob Getz for a 23-yard play. Unfortunately, the Bears' drive stalled and they were forced to punt.

Sadly, that would be the longest drive Pleasant Valley would have all night. Senior quarterback Derrik Walling, who is coming off a great junior season, threw for just 53 yards on 17 attempts. Three of his passes were intercepted, including one that was returned 80 yards for a touchdown a minute before halftime.

"Offensively there is a lot of room for us to grow," said Terwilliger. "In no way am I happy. In fact, I am a little embarrassed with the way the offense played. That is not who we are. We had a number of things that we set out to do offensively and we just didn't get them done."

Perhaps the lone bring spot for the Bears was Getz. Getz picked up 61 yards on 17 carries and ran strong through the middle. He also caught five balls for 40 yards, had a nice 55-yard kickoff return and intercepted a pass in the second quarter.

While Pleasant Valley drops in first game of the year, nobody should get down. The Bears lost their opener to the Eagles last year (49-18) and turned things around in the end.

While he was definitely not pleased with his team's performance, Terwilliger isn't about to hit the panic button after one game.

"The sun will rise tomorrow," said Terwilliger. "The Pleasant Valley Bears will be ready to play at Honesdale next week."