Aidan McHugh didn’t expect to see much time at quarterback for Pleasant Valley this season.

With senior Brandon Keyes coming off a record-setting season that included 2,365 yards passing and 33 touchdowns, McHugh appeared set to watch and learn.

That plan changed when Keyes went down with a season-ending knee injury in a Week 5 loss to Pocono Mountain West.

Despite having just seven pass attempts when he took over, McHugh proved to be a quick learner.

The sophomore closed out the season with his best performance yet, throwing for 445 yards and five touchdowns last Friday against Stroudsburg to earn Times News Player of the Week honors.

“It meant a lot,” McHugh said. “I knew that I needed to play well because it could have been the last game for most of our seniors.

I think, despite everything else that comes with the way I played, it was good that I got to play as well as I did for the seniors.

McHugh has earned the trust of his upperclassmen with tremendous leadership, poise and toughness.

“He’s gonna listen, and he’ll work. He’s a good leader, too,” Bears head coach Mark Versuk said of McHugh. “Those kids follow him. It’s hard for a sophomore quarterback to come in, and not only come in, but after Brandon (Keyes). You’ve got this Division I, college quarterback running the show, and all of a sudden he goes down. And now these older guys are looking around, and here comes Aidan.

[naviga:iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F175671395827358%2Fvideos%2F1586782174716266%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"][/naviga:iframe]

“In the game he came in (against Pocono Mountain West), he struggled the first series. But after that, he threw a touchdown pass, and I think the kids were like, ‘OK, here we go. Maybe we can still keep doing what we’re doing.’ And we were able to do that.”

Though Pleasant Valley lost that game, McHugh gained valuable playing experience.

“I really wish that I could redo some of the games that I played, now that I have the experience, and know-how,” McHugh said. “I definitely feel like some of those outcomes could have been changed.”

With more reps came more confidence, something that showed throughout the second half of the season.

McHugh set an all-time area best with 352 yards passing and three touchdowns in his third start in a 34-14 win over East Stroudsburg North on Oct. 13, a mark he shattered last Friday.

“There was quite a bit of pressure,” McHugh said of the game against Stroudsburg. “We knew we were gonna throw against them. But I think that I handled it well. The team really rallied around me, and I felt confident going into it.”

And it showed right away.

“I said to one of our players before the game, $50 that the first play of the game is going to be a trick play,” McHugh recalled. “And sure enough, we get in the huddle – 28-toss throwback.

“We had worked on that quite a few times in practice, and it didn’t really work for us. But the last time that we ran it, it worked very, very well.”

McHugh and the Pleasant Valley offense executed the play to perfection. After pitching the ball to Brent Beck, McHugh took a lateral from his running back before hitting Mikey Brown for an 81-yard score on the Bears’ opening drive.

“There was no doubt in my mind, when we stopped Stroudsburg on the first series – they fumbled, and I said you know what we’re doing,” Versuk said. “And they all smiled. And we knew what we were doing.”

Despite finishing the year 2-8 and missing the postseason, the Bears have plenty to look forward to with McHugh running the offense, especially after the sophomore led the area with 1,514 yards passing and was tied for second with 16 touchdowns to go along with 109 completions in limited action.

McHugh credited Keyes for much of his success.

“The way that I played, and that fact that I was able to be successful this season, was definitely due to his mentorship,” McHugh said of Keyes. “I would not have been able to play the way I did without him.

“And I don’t think it’s really hit me yet that I’m not going to have guys like Brandon here next year. We had a great group of guys. Our record didn’t show it, but we really did.”