McHugh leads Pleasant Valley past ES North

DINGMANS FERRY — Pleasant Valley thrived on a big play offense last season.

The Bears were flush with playmakers – and it showed – averaging 44.5 points-per-game and qualifying for the District 11 playoffs.

It’s been a different story this year.

Injuries and graduation have taken a toll, and the offense sputtered, averaging just over 20 points-per-game while stumbling to a 1-6 start.

Friday night, Pleasant Valley brought back memories of a year ago with its most impressive offensive showing of the season against East Stroudsburg North.

The Bears took full advantage of all their weapons en route to a 34-14 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference victory over the Timberwolves.

“We finally got some of our guys healthy where you can see some of the offense that we ran last year,” Pleasant Valley head coach Mark Versuk said of the performance. “We haven’t seen that much because we just didn’t have the personnel to do it.”

The Bears (2-6) set the tone with a four-play, 50-yard drive to open the game capped by Aidan McHugh’s nine-yard score to Brent Beck less than two minutes into the first quarter.

On a night when the offense took center stage, perhaps no player benefited more than McHugh, who completed 17-of-29 passes for 352 yards and three touchdowns.

The sophomore, who took over for injured starter Brandon Keyes in Week 5 against Pocono Mountain West, had 294 yards and two scores at halftime.

“He’s a real smart kid,” Versuk said of McHugh. “He’s a real tough kid. He took some shots again.

“He has some things that he does a nice job of, and he continuously tries to make the corrections on things that he doesn’t.”

McHugh’s biggest play was a 94-yard touchdown to Michael Brown that gave Pleasant Valley a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. The play came after Dale Knowles intercepted Timberwolves’ quarterback David Aguiles at the goal line.

“I thought that was the defining moment of this game,” McHugh said. “We had a few great passes over the middle of the field. Brent (Beck) caught a few of those.”

McHugh benefited from the return of Beck, who played on offense for the first time since the second week of the season after returning on defense last week.

Beck made his presence felt with two rushing scores – the second of which made it 20-0 in the second quarter – while also racking up 174 yards receiving on eight catches.

“It’s just great to be back,” said Beck.

“It’s awesome,” McHugh added. “I think every skill guy that we have is a total athlete. Whenever I get the ball in their hands, I’m confident they’re gonna make plays.”

McHugh’s final score was a 21-yard toss to Tristan Gerstenmaier in the third quarter to push the Bears’ lead to 27-0.

“He’s a competitor and a battler,” Versuk said of McHugh. “And the kids are following him.

“It was a concern, because Brandon (Keyes) is such a great player … with a young quarterback, some of those older guys might not be easy to fall behind. But he’s taken that role, and those kids are behind him. He’s continuing to do what we try to do.”

East Stroudsburg North (0-8) made it interesting with two second half scores.

The first was a scintillating 80-yard run by Aguiles, where he deftly straddled the sideline on his way to the end zone.

Dejon Richardson scooped up a fumble on Pleasant Valley’s next drive and went 47 yards for a score to cut the Bears lead to 27-14 with a little over nine minutes left in the game.

But Pleasant Valley came up with a fourth-down stop on North’s next drive, before Mike Napolitano went 21 yards on the Bears’ next possession to make it 34-14.

Samir Hoxha picked off Aguiles on the first play of the Timberwolves’ next drive to seal the win.

BUCKET GAME … Pleasant Valley returns home next week to face Pocono Mountain East in the annual Bucket Game. “We have our rivalry game coming up next week, so hopefully this sets up for a great week of practice and a good win on Friday,” said McHugh.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY … Trailing 20-0, East Stroudsburg North had a chance to cut Pleasant Valley’s lead with a second-and-goal at the Bears’ 2-yard line. But the Timberwolves fumbled into the end zone, resulting in a touchback.