Senior Night at Pascack Valley is always big as it is the last time that Pascack Valley players will play a regular season game in front of their friends, family, and other members of the community on their own turf.

“Our history is [on Senior Night] that we come out slow,” said Pascack Valley head coach Craig Nielsen.

And slow is not what the Indians wanted against Ramapo, a top team in North 1, Group 3 and in all of North Jersey.

The Raiders jumped out to an early 21-0 lead and topped Pascack Valley 42-21 at Pascack Valley High School on Friday.

The Raiders (7-1), led by dual-threat quarterback, Keith Woetzel and running back Joe O’Hagan, combined for 333 rushing yards on 20 attempts for the game and five touchdowns.

Woetzel also dominated the Valley secondary as he hit Raider receivers on 6 completions for 132 yards. Many passing plays were huge plays that set up rushing touchdowns for Woetzel and O’Hagan.

The Indians (6-2) fought hard though after the early 21-0 deficit and played evenly with the Raiders the rest of the way.

Quarterback Colin Dedrick had an improved second half after throwing three interceptions early. Dedrick threw a touchdown to junior tight end Phil Wong to start the second half to cut the lead to 28-14. Overall, Dedrick was 18 for 28, for 184 yards, 1 touchdown, and 3 interceptions.

The Raiders answered right back after the Valley touchdown as O’Hagan punched in a 4-yard touchdown to take the lead back back to 35-14, and then they extended their lead to 28 after another O’Hagan third quarter touchdown, this one a 6-yard run. it was 42-14 at the end of the third quarter.

Unfortunately, the Valley rushing game was not its usual dominant force, being held to 185 yards, with the majority of those yards coming from junior running back Jack Jankowsky. After having a good game last week against Passaic Valley, Jankowsky had 73 yards on 14 attempts.

“We wanted to use him [Jankowsky],” Nielsen said. “The goal was both to use him and Andrew [Flores] tonight.”

Coming into the game, the Indians held down the No. 3 seed in the North 1 Group 3 playoff section, and Ramapo has the No. 2 seed. If these seeds hold, PV could face the Raiders again if both teams win their first round playoff games.

“We have to make plays. We worked hard, we got players in position, but maybe we missed tackles, drop a ball here or there, we got to tighten up some things,” Nielsen said.

“I’m pleased with our effort, but I just don’t like losing.”