There was only one conclusion to be drawn.

“The better team won,” said Pascack Valley head coach Craig Nielsen after Pascack Valley suffered a tough loss Friday night at the hands of its archrival, Old Tappan, 42-14 at Pascack Valley High School.

It is the most lopsided loss that PV (5-1) has experienced since falling 42-3 at St. Joe’s on Oct. 30, 2011 and its most lopsided loss to a public school since a 42-7 setback to Old Tappan in its 2010 season opener.

The Golden Knights (6-0) came out on their first two drives and scored touchdowns, both passes, involving senior standout Jordan Fuller. The first he threw, four yards to Zack DeNike, the second he ran in from 2 yards out.

It looked though as if the teams were going to back and forth for most of the game after senior quarterback Colin Dedrick hit junior tight end Phil Wong on a 48-yard touchdown pass to answer the first Old Tappan touchdown.

That all changed when the PV (5-1) offense took the field for the second time during the game, in the second quarter, down 14-7, when Fuller picked off Dedrick on a deep pass over the middle and took it back 52 yards for a touchdown. That was the first of two interceptions by Dedrick, who threw for 182 yards on 12 completions along with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

“Give them credit,” Dedrick said. “They were definitely the toughest team we have played.”

Dedrick could not hit his favorite target, senior wide receiver, Mike Pimpinella throughout the game, as Fuller shadowed his every movement. Pimpinella was held to 22 yards on 3 catches.

After the interception return, it was smooth sailing for the Golden Knights, who cruised to a 35-7 halftime lead. Then got out to a 42-7 lead in the third quarter after a 43-yard pass from Fuller to Jedh Downey.

PV failed to go down quietly though as with 8 minutes left in the game Dedrick hit junior wide receiver Kyle Alvarado for a 14-yard score.

The Knights held the PV offense in check throughout the whole game, mainly the Indians rushing game was hampered the most, which was held to 75 yards, 61 of those came on a combined 15 attempts by seniors Andrew Flores and Jake Giambona.

The PV defense was hurt in a multitude of ways. For one, it could not stop DeNike who had 125 yards on 19 carries and had 4 catches for 63 yards, along with a touchdown. Superstar Fuller had four touchdowns — two through the air, one on the ground and one on the interception return. Fuller dominated with a stat line of 2-3 passing for 45 yards, 9 attempts running the ball for 34 yards and a touchdown, and 2 receptions for 43 yards.

Looking ahead the Indians know they have to do one thing.

“We have to work harder,” Dedrick said.

“We have to work harder,” repeated Nielsen.