What: North 1, Group 4 state football final

Where: Saturday, 4 p.m.

Location: MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, NJ)

Ticket Information: $9 adults, $3 students and senior citizens

Parking: $12 at the Stadium

 PV Record: 9-2, No. 1 seed

PV Playoff Wins:

No. 8 Passaic Valley W, 48-7

No. 4 Old Tappan W, 37-14

Paramus Record: 10-1, No. 3 seed

Paramus Playoff Wins:

No. 6 Nutley W, 35-21

No. 2 Roxbury W, 21-0

Last Time The Teams Met: The teams faced off last year in the same place, in the same game. The Indians proved too much for the Spartans with a victory of 32-8. The Indians famously went to the “Wildcat” formation for the whole second half, a move that neither the fans nor the Paramus coaching staff saw coming. Look for a new wrinkle in this game from Coach Craig Nielsen and his coaching staff.

PV Perspective:  Especially with the frightful weather forecast, the Indians will look to keep the ball on the ground, as per usual, with Jorge Cortes and Rocco Swatek. Cortes was named Athlete of the Week by the Bergen Record for his 277 yard, four touchdown performance against Old Tappan. Cortes got the bulk of those yards on an 11-minute drive in the third-and-fourth quarter drive. The Indians will look to keep the Paramus offense off the field with many time-consuming drives that they have used throughout the season.

Paramus Breakdown: The Spartans are hungry for redemption this season. Led by quarterback Tyler Smith and running back Derek De La Cruz, Paramus has a strong backfield which has a total of 2,849 yards rushing this season, averaging 259 yards rushing per game. The Spartans can also throw the pigskin as well. Smith is 80-136 with 1283 yards and 10 touchdowns, most of which are to Mike Mimmo, who has 40 catches with 766 yards and six touchdowns on the season. Look for Paramus to not only run the ball the entire game, but to throw the ball in certain situations as well.

Key Matchups:

Jorge Cortes vs Paramus Defense– In the Indians’ last game against Old Tappan, Cortes exploded for 277 yards and four touchdowns. The Paramus defense held Roxbury scoreless in their semifinal matchup. Roxbury had not scored under 16 points the whole season. The Indians’ offense has flourished the past few games and Old Tappan’s defense was a good test for the squad.

Paramus Run Game vs. PV run defense– Led by running back Derek De La Cruz who has 1,000 yards and 16 touchdowns, along with quarterback Tyler Smith. Smith has 855 yards and 12 touchdowns to complement 1,283 yards and 10 touchdowns throwing the ball, proving to be a real “dual-threat.” The key for the Indians will be to stop the two main ball carriers for the Spartans.

Predictions:

Jake “The Snake” Aferiat: PV, 35-14

Calvin Ralph: PV, 28-14

Evan Jones: PV, 35-28

“Papa Bear” Rawson: Paramus, 14-13