A new era began for Pascack Valley football on Friday night. For the first time in 15 years, the head coach leading the Indians on to the field was not Craig Nielsen, but rather new head coach, Len Cusumano.

Cusumano had a tough task in his first game as head coach—going up against D.J. Nimphius and his River Dell team which is coming off of a third straight appearance in the North 1, Group 3 title game. The two storied programs rarely play, but the last matchup between the two came in 2010, and saw the Indians come out victorious over the Golden Hawks by a score of 38-30.

This time, though, it was River Dell that came out ahead. River Dell won 21-14 in the game played at Pascack Valley High School on Friday night.

This loss marks the first time in six years that PV has lost its opening game.

“The guys played pretty hard in the first half, I think the effort was there in the beginning, but in the second half, I think it just kind of wore off, and we just couldn’t finish,” Cusumano explains

The first half saw River Dell, which was without star quarterback Dave Estevez, jump out to an early 7-0 courtesy of a 35 yard touchdown run with 10:04 left in the first quarter.

But Pascack Valley’s offense looked promising. Matt Urrea had a 39 yard run on second and four, putting the Indians on the 37 yard line. Then Joe Campagna, on his first varsity pass attempt threw an interception. It appeared as though things were going to turn around, as River Dell went for it on 3rd and nine and got sacked by Austin Piorkowski for a loss of eight yards.

River Dell punted the ball away and senior wide receiver Kyle Alvarado returned the ball to the 50. The Indians opted to let the clock run out on the quarter, and so would start in good field position to begin the second.

Then, seven seconds into the second quarter, Campagna on only his second pass attempt, hit senior Matt Novakowski for a 35 yard touchdown to tie the game at 7.

River Dell quickly got inside the red zone—to the 18 yard line, and it looked promising for the Indians defense. After an incompletion and a nine yard reception, it was 4th and 1 at the eight yard line. However, PV got flagged for a false start and put the Golden Hawks on the three yard line. From there, River Dell scored on a run play and made it 14-7.

That false start penalty was one of 10 total penalties called against the Indians, and Cusumano acknowledged that those penalties hurt PV in the long run.

“Penalties are always a huge factor, that’s one of those little things in football that you have to do well, or else it will put you in 3rd and long or 4th and long situations,” said Cusumano.

The Indians leaned heavily on Urrea, who scored a one yard touchdown on second and goal with 2:34 left on the second half, tying the game at 14.

Going into halftime, the score was tied at 14 thanks to Campagana’s touchdown, and Urrea’s 108 yards on 13 carries.

After stagnation from both sides in the third quarter, the fourth quarter began with a bang for River Dell. Following a 14 yard pass, River Dell scored what would be the game winning touchdown with just over 11 minutes left in the game.

Jack Jankowsky came up big with a fumble recovery in the 4th quarter, and put the offense in a great position, but were unable to put any offense together.

“The defense put us in a position to put drives together,” Cusumano said. “But the offense just couldn’t execute and punch it in.”

The one standout from the game was Urrea, who not only had a rushing touchdown, but ran for 158 yards on the ground and played wildcat quarterback.

“It only gets used when we need it, and tonight we needed it, unfortunately it just couldn’t get the job done,” Urrea explains.

PV takes on Old Tappan next week, as the Golden Knights come off of a 35-7 victory over Paramus.

“We will get better in the future,” Cusumano said after his first game.