Nothing is guaranteed in the first week of scholastic football except surprises.

With Pleasant Valley and Nazareth both finishing their seasons with identical 5-6 records last year, and crucial personnel losses from graduation, both squads entered their 2016 season opener with plenty of question marks.However, Pleasant Valley coach Mark Versuk and his staff can walk away from their 43-25 victory over the Blue Eagles with a few less unknowns, thanks to the outpouring of offense from their team in the program's first opening-game win in almost a decade."It's tremendous to get the win," Versuk said afterwards. "If you had asked me what our biggest game on this year's schedule was, I'd say this one. Being a new coach, in the season opener against a great team, with a great coach, being down by three late in the third quarter, our defense came through and then we went down and did what we had to do."In fact, trailing 25-22 in the fourth quarter, the Bears never gave up and battled back in a big way, scoring the game's final three touchdowns for the come-from-behind win."They have a great skill group," Nazareth head coach Tom Falzone said. "We had some personnel issues and some injuries and we needed to adjust throughout the game, but their skill group outplayed us tonight."We weren't able to execute offensively. Then defensively, we didn't get stops and they killed us."The Bears' skill players Falzone was talking about included junior quarterback Brandon Keyes (10-for-16 passing, 229 yards, three passing TDs), and seniors Michael Mitchell (11 carries, 80 yards, three catches for 70 yards, two TDs) and Justin Richardson (six receptions for 187 yards, three scores)."It feels amazing. I loved it," Richardson said. "This is the first time in a long time (since 2007) that we won the opener, so it's a great feeling.""The offensive line did an outstanding job tonight. They were making huge holes and nailing assignments," Mitchell added. "It's an incredible feeling to win and going into school Monday is going to be crazy."Early on, the teams battled pretty evenly, taking turns putting points up, before the locals managed a 22-19 lead at the intermission. However, the Bears' first possession of the third frame saw Hunter Paulson intercept a Keyes pass and returning it for the go-ahead score.Despite the shift in momentum, though, the Bear defense rose up and repeatedly halted the Blue Eagle offense, allowing for the three unanswered scores for the victory.In fact, the last four Nazareth possessions resulted in two turnovers on downs, a punt and an interception.KEYES TO SUCCESS ... Keyes connected on 63 per cent of his passing attempts for the 229 yards through the air.FRONT AND CENTER ... When provided the opportunity to laude specific players that played well in the big win, coach Versuk mentioned: Josh Fitzsimmons, Tyler Dooner, James Miller, Christian DeReinzi, Kurt Maly and Brian McKee.BY THE NUMBERS ... Both sides managed to put up 174 yards of rushing in the game, oddly enough, along with the exact same number of penalties for an identical 35 yards.