Fourth and one – a situation that comes down to who has more heart. It turns out that the Pascack Valley defense had more heart than the Hackensack offense.

With his team leading 29-28, Hackensack running back Sandy Almonte hit a brick wall and was not able to reach the first down marker. This brought the Indians alive and focused the whole team on the upcoming offensive drive.

PV put together the game winning drive, capped off by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Colin Dedrick to Mike Pimpanella with 1:36 left, and prevailed 34-29 Saturday at Hackensack High School.

With 3:15 left in the final quarter, after stopping Almonte, the PV offense ran onto the field down 29-28.

PV coach Craig Nielsen explained, “I’ve been coaching for a long time and didn’t show my nervousness on the outside, but I was wild on the inside.”

Normally, the Indians are a run-first team using a combination of larger, stronger and smaller, quicker running backs. But on this particular drive, they were forced to resort to the passing game.

Dedrick came out firing after throwing an interception earlier in the game to Hackensack defensive back Jordan Hunter, which he returned for a 50-yard TD. He completed four of five passes to begin the drive. Along with a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the Hackensack defense and a seven-yard scamper from senior running back Jake Giambona, the Indians were quickly in scoring position on the 16-yard line.

With time slowly winding down, Dedrick dropped back and hit fellow senior Pimpinella on a crossing route for a 16-yard pass to the end zone. The PV crowd and sidelines exploded with excitement as the Indians took the lead 34-29.

On the drive, Dedrick hit four different wide receivers on his five passes completions. Seniors Mike Soravilla, Mike Gramegna, Connor Jones, and Pimpinella all recorded receptions. Soravilla also had four other catches in the game, including a 51-yard TD catch. Dedrick threw for a total of 163 yards in the game.

“Experience helped us on that drive. We have mostly seniors on the line and at the wide receiver position,” said Dedrick about the final drive.

After a missed 2-point conversion, it was time to play defense again. Because of a 15-yard personal foul penalty following the touchdown on PV, Hackensack began their drive on their own 46-yard line with 1:30 to score.

Their first two plays were passes completed for a total of 7 yards. Their third down run resulted in a two-yard loss. And again, it came down to making another 4^th down stop. The PV defense took down dual-threat Hackensack QB Bryce Drakeford short of the line and sealed their 34-29 victory over the North 1, Group 5 team rated the No. 2 public-school team in North Jersey by the Bergen Record (PV was ranked No. 3).

Senior linebacker Joe Williams made the final stop in the game, which resulted in a fumble and recovery for Williams.

“I was spying the quarterback, that’s what I’ve been doing all week in practice,” said Williams about the final defensive play, “We knew that it would come down to the fourth quarter.”

Besides the final drive, the run game accounted for the majority of the PV offensive. The offensive line, led by seniors Joe Figueroa, Joe Schnugg, and Max Putterman created large holes for fellow seniors Giambona and Andrew Flores. Giambona totaled 77 yards on 19 carries and scored twice.

In the very early stages of the game, the PV special teams were the most impressive unit on the field. Hackensack’s first possession ended with a touchdown by Almonte, who scored two in the game. On the ensuing kickoff, senior Joe Colasuono brought the kick 93 yards for a touchdown.

Later in the first half, the Indians punt return team blocked a punt, which was recovered by senior Cooper Frey.

After the game against Hackensack, it is clear that the strength of this year’s team is its senior class, which rivals those of past seasons.

The Indians take on Montclair next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Montclair. This means that it will be the second game in a row that PV takes on a Group 5 opponent. The Indians beat Montclair last season but the game will be another challenge for the team.

Williams said of the matchup, “We are looking forward to a very physical game next week.”

The win over Hackensack will give the Indians lots of momentum going into the game but Nielsen stated, “We aren’t yet where we want to be, but we are still in a good spot.”

Consider his message a promise that there is still more to come.