Pascack Valley’s football program is one that has long enjoyed the tradition of winning.

But that tradition is at risk after Friday’s 33-20 loss against Old Tappan (2-0), marking the first time since 2003 PV has started 0-2.

“I thought they made plays when they needed to and we didn’t,” said center Mike Leicht, who missed last week’s game with a separated shoulder. “But I was proud of the way we fought for the whole game.”

Pascack Valley’s offense looked much improved in this game compared to the first, employing a run heavy offense led by seniors Jack Jankowsky and the versatile Matt Urrea, who had a 59 yard run and 110 yards for the game.

“Our run game is always an important part of our offense,” Cusumano said. “Our offensive line, tight ends, and running backs have been consistently improving every week since we began practice in August.”

Even so, it was not enough as the well oiled machine that is the OT offense, racked up points over and over again against a PV defense that struggled to defend the Golden Knights. Quarterback Jack Bilali went 5-11 for 140 yards and 4 touchdowns, including three of them to his brother Aidan, who had 127 receiving yards on Friday night.

One of those four touchdowns, on 4th and 15 from the 23 yard line in the first quarter, was all it took to swing the momentum, as from then on, the Golden Knights never trailed.

The Indians also struggled to stop the running game as they gave up 106 yards and a touchdown to tailback Erik Slater.

The Indians struggled to keep the Golden Knights out of the end zone for the majority of the game, but still had some defensive positives that came from Friday night. Senior Phil Wong, played well as he sacked Bilali once, and totaled 2 tackles for loss. Also, sophomore Stephen Soravilla and senior Jack Lupardo each forced a fumble for Valley.

The strong individual defensive play and the resilience were areas of solace for the Indians.

Wong shared a similar sentiment to Leicht.

“We played a great first three quarters, but we ultimately beat ourselves,” he said.

Valley remains winless so far but they will get another chance to get in the win column next Saturday at Nutley (0-2) with a 1 PM kickoff.