Indians get back on track against Ridgefield Park

Valley defeats the Scarlets to move to 5-1 on the season

BJ McGrane, Sports Editor|October 11, 2019

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Victoria Donofrio
Junior Michael Solazzo runs in the open field

Coming off of a heartbreaking loss against Old Tappan last week, Pascack Valley needed to get back to their winning ways.

The Indians did exactly that, taking down Ridgefield Park 54-6 on their home turf on Friday night.

Both teams’ records hinted that this contest could get out of hand quickly, with Valley’s record being 4-1 heading into the game, and Ridgefield Park’s being 1-4.

Although the Scarlets received the opening kickoff, it was the Indians who scored on the first offensive play of the game when sophomore lineman Steven Demboski recovered a Ridgefield Park muffed snap in the end zone to put Valley up 7-0 early.

“I got through the line, I saw the ball on the ground, and I just ran and jumped on it,” Demboski said.

Demboski’s touchdown started a stretch of defensive dominance for the Indians as well as a dominant stretch for Demboski himself. In the first quarter, Pascack Valley took down the Scarlets seven times for a loss of yardage. Demboski would finish the first quarter with a sack to add to his defensive touchdown.

By the end of the first quarter, the Indians had a 28-0 lead not only because of their defense, but also due to their offense and its ability to move the ball through the Scarlet defense. Jake Williams ran for two touchdowns in the first quarter, and Stephen Begen connected with wide receiver Jake Ciocca from 14 yards out for the Indians’ fourth touchdown of the opening quarter. Williams would finish the game with 7 carries for 119 yards and three touchdowns, and this would be Begen’s only completion on his second and final passing attempt of the game.

The Indians’ dominance did not stop at the end of the first quarter.

In fact, on the opening play of the second quarter, junior running back Michael Solazzo took the ball for 52 yards and a touchdown to put the Indians up 35-0. Solazzo would finish the night with two carries, each for touchdowns and totaling 86 yards.

“Offensively, we cleaned up everything, because last week we struggled a little bit,” Solazzo said. “I really wanted to show myself, and I got the opportunity to, and I took advantage of it.”

Solazzo was one of many Indians players who had the opportunity to showcase their skills on Friday night, as many of the starters did not return to the game after halftime.

Although many of the starters were pulled from the game early, this did not mean that the night was over for Valley.

“We’re still coaching the underclassmen, making sure they get their reps in there, and making sure they continue to play to our standard,” coach Len Cusumano said.

The Indians’ defense continued to impress throughout the game, only allowing one touchdown. This score came when Ridgefield Park junior quarterback Matthew Vercelli rushed for a 12 yard touchdown near the end of the first half. The Indians held Vercelli to just 6/20 on his passing attempts, with all of his completions being to senior Logan Martinez.

Valley’s offense was not finished putting up points at the end of the first half, as they relied entirely on the running game throughout the second half, not attempting a single pass after halftime.

Much of the offensive success can be attributed to the offensive line, as no matter who was running the ball, the Indians were putting up points.

“[The offense] came out and played fundamentally sound,” Cusumano said. “We played good, clean football, and we took care of business today.”

“Our blocks can open up wide holes and [Williams] is a beast and he can just run people over,” junior lineman Nick Mazza said.

The Indians final touchdown of the day came late in the fourth quarter on a rush by senior Kamiab Eshaghipour, giving the Indians their total of 54 points on the night.

Pascack Valley will look to carry the momentum from this game into next week. Next Friday night, the Indians (5-1) will face River Dell (4-2) at home in perhaps the most important game of the season so far for the Indians, as the winner of next week’s game will be the winner of the Patriot Gold league.

“We’re gonna go back to work tomorrow, we’re gonna check out this film, we’re gonna make sure we’re lifting hard this week and executing well in all phases of the game,” Cusumano said. “We’re gonna focus on our number one goal, which is to go 1-0 every week.”