WHITEHALL - Pleasant Valley put up a strong fight not only throughout the season, but in the postseason, playing with a number of underclassmen as starters. The Bears' run ended Saturday, however, when they were on the wrong end of a 3-1 decision in the District 11 quarterfinal game against Emmaus.

Through the first 40-minutes of play, Emmaus dominated the possession, but were able to get just one goal, which came from John Heberlein at 18:35 of the first half. The Pleasant Valley defense kept ruining one opportunity after another for Emmaus and goalkeeper Brad Brickman was able to deflect shots around the goal."They're good. They're a good team," explained coach Chris Pachuta. "We tried to game plan it out and we got our one goal, but they've got fire power and Kacper [Grycel] and [John] Fritz are all-state type players and they got their goals and that's what happened."Things turned around for Pleasant Valley in the second half as they came out playing the role of the aggressor and at 24:11, Devon Woltal was able to fire a shot past goalkeeper Dylan Sosnow, tying the game at 1-1. With the momentum definitely on the Bears side, the two teams continued to battle.Eventually, Emmaus' Kacper Grycel was able to get through a stiffened Pleasant Valley defense putting a shot on goal and past Brickman to give Emmaus a 2-1 lead. Less than two minutes later, with 10:47 left to play, John Fritz took the ball at midfield and worked through three defenders to score the third goal of the game for Emmaus, pretty much putting the game away.The loss eliminated Pleasant Valley from the District 11 Playoffs, while Emmaus goes on to play Liberty in the semifinals.Looking back over the season, Pachuta believes that his team's hard work paid off and that his team performed well and has a lot to continue to build on for the future."We expected to be in a lot of games and I think we had eight or nine overtime games. We kind of knew we would struggle for goals at times and when we get them, we get them," explained Pachuta. "The kids worked hard and did everything we asked of them and we're a young team. We have eight seniors, but the majority of our starting lineup is underclassmen."This senior group has been really good. They've been a part of 50-some wins and been a part of some really good teams, undefeated teams in the regular season. This senior class has been special, they work hard and they're good leaders and they work hard for the program."CURSE YOU, HORNETS AND TROJANS ... Five of the last seven seasons, Pleasant Valley has been eliminated in districts by either Emmaus or Parkland. Emmaus has beaten them three times and Parkland twice. The other losses came to Pocono Mountain West (2010) and Easton (2008).YELLOW MEANS CAUTION ... Pachuta was given a yellow card in the second half of play for arguing a play with the officials. The card actually wasn't given to him by the official he was arguing with, but by a second official who ran down the field to give the card.