It came less than five minutes into the game.

After watching Pocono Mountain West march 56-yards on its first possession, Pleasant Valley's defense forced a fourth down at its own four-yard line.The Bears held.What followed was a 98-yard scoring drive that set the tone for Saturday's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference contest against the Panthers and propelled Pleasant Valley to a 35-27 victory."That was the biggest thing, the biggest part of the game, I thought," Bears' head coach Mark Versuk said of the early defensive stand. "We knew they were going to come out ready. They were physical; they were moving the ball on the ground on us - I think it was all on the ground - and we were on our heels."But I'm very proud that the defense was able to hold on fourth down and then we turned around on offense and were able to go down and score."Pleasant Valley (4-1) needed only six plays to march nearly the length of the field before Mike Mitchell scored the first of his three touchdowns from 24-yards out. A successful two-point conversion gave the Bears an 8-0 lead with 4:54 to play in the first quarter."That's huge because if we go down, we're playing catch-up right off the bat and that's not the situation we wanted to be in, especially here when they're opening their stadium today," Versuk commentedMitchell starred on a day when Pleasant Valley's typically potent passing game (262.25 YPG) was held to just 65 yards, though quarterback Brandon Keyes did hit Brendan Gilleece for a 40-yard score late in the third quarter."Mike ran the ball real well today," said Versuk. "He ran very hard."The senior entered Week 5 as the Times News area's leading rusher with 432 yards on the ground and finished with 180 yards rushing on 20 carries. Mitchell also continued to show the big-play ability that has made him so dangerous all season, with his three touchdowns totaling 89 yards."I just follow the offensive line," said Mitchell, who also had an interception on defense. "My center tells me to follow him, my guard, my tackle, my fullback, and I usually always get a one-on-one (with a defender), and usually if I get a one-on-one, I try to make a move and it's the end zone."Mitchell's counterpart, Chris Monaco (129 yards rushing), did his best to bring the Panthers (0-5) back in the fourth quarter.Staring at a 35-8 deficit with 11:11 to play in the fourth quarter following Jah-Seer Aulder's pick-six, Monaco darted 74-yards for a score on the ensuing kickoff that cut the Bears' lead to 35-14. It was PM West's first score since Monaco's two-yard touchdown made it 8-8 late in the first half.The Panthers put together another scoring drive after stopping Pleasant Valley on fourth-and-one at the PM West 15. Jonathan St. Hilaire finished off the 85-yard drive - a series highlighted by a 65-yard run from Monaco - with a 16-yard score to make it 35-20 PV with 3:22 to play.The Bears punted on their next drive and three plays later Dylan Dellavalle found Greg Bensley for a 33-yard touchdown to make it a one score game with 1:43 to play.But PM West's rally ended when its onside kick attempt went out of bounds and handed the ball back to the Bears, who ran out the clock.HAVE A DAY …Aulderr's 23-yard interception return for a score was far from his only contribution. The senior put the Bears in the red zone by blocking a punt, which led to a 17-yard score from Mitchell to put Pleasant Valley up 28-8 with 31.9 seconds to play in the third quarter. "If you see other people doing well, you want to fall into the flow,"Aulderr said.OPENING CEREMONY … Saturday marked the first time the Panthers played a home varsity football game on the school's campus since PM West opened in 2002. There wasa ribbon-cutting ceremonyy and dedication of the fieldbeforeo the start of the game.SHUTDOWN … Pleasant Valley's Justin Richardson came into Week 5 as the Times News area's leading receiver with 569 yards on 20 catches. But Richardson never found room to work Saturday and finished with one catch for one yard.NO WORRIES … Monaco had a punt return for a touchdown brought back midway through the second quarter when holding was called on the Panthers. The PM West offense responded with a 29-yard scoring drive to tie the game.