“Our biggest thing is getting off to a great start,” Pascack Valley head coach Len Cusumano said prior to the Indians’ clash against Paramus.

That simply did not happen.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.

After receiving the opening kickoff, Paramus running back Justin McKeon caught a screen pass on the Spartans’ first play from scrimmage and took it 61 yards for a touchdown.  After Valley went three-and-out, Paramus signal caller Trevor Bopp ran for a 67-yard touchdown on Paramus’ second offensive snap.

Things would not get much better for Cusumano’s squad, as Pascack Valley (1-1) limped to a 48-14 loss.

“It’s on execution and being fundamentally sound,” Cusumano said. “We tackled very, very poorly. We were in position to make a couple plays, make a couple first-down catches but we didn’t convert on them. We just didn’t get the job done.”

Following a PV fumble, Paramus would find the endzone again, just five plays later, to take a 21-0 lead.  They would score twice more in the half and were poised to take a 35-0 lead into halftime, when Stephen Begen connected with senior Gio DeGiglio for a 13-yard touchdown as time expired in the first half.

PV’s other touchdown came on a four-yard rush by Jake Williams in the third quarter.

Overall, the Indians struggled on both sides of the ball, totalling just 227 yards offensively. The defense also allowed 463 total yards to an explosive Paramus offense.

“Learn from it. Learn from our mistakes and just execute next week,” Cusumano said of the team’s outlook on the tough loss.

Pascack Valley, now 1-1, will head to Demarest for a matchup with the Norsemen next Friday.  Demarest defeated the Indians 35-0 in 2017, but are off to a slow start this season at 1-2.