Pleasant Valley’s running game was in full force Friday evening against Dieruff.

Senior quarterback Robert Papaleo rushed 26 times for 210 yards in a 28-12 Bears win over the Huskies. Papaleo and the rushing game were on target with 319 rushing yards.

“I was so much more impressed and proud of the way he ran the offense,” Pleasant Valley coach Blaec Saeger said about Papaleo. “He just stayed composed and put the ball where it needed to be.

“He calls 60 percent of the plays at the line based off of looks that he’s given. He’s got to put the ball in three different people’s hands. It’s a tough deal ... so much of that is overlooked.”

Both teams got off to a slow start and the first score of the contest didn’t come until the second quarter when Dieruff quarterback Javon Rodriguez threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Christopher Sell with 9:47 left.

PV answered right back. Papaleo ripped off a 70-yard run to the Dieruff one-yard line and then punched it in to give PV a 7-6 lead it would never surrender.

“We did not start the way we wanted to because of a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” Saeger said. “They came out in a little different look than we were expecting. They’re an active team with a lot of athletes and size. We don’t have a lot of size and it took us a little while.

“We were the tougher team today and we wore them down. We grinded it out with our ground game. That’s what we do and who we are.”

Senior Ryan Blass had a big defensive game for the Bears. Blass intercepted Rodriguez three times with all of the picks coming in the first half of the game.

“I just read my key, saw the guard, saw him drop back for a pass and I just read the quarterback’s eyes,” Blass said.

Along with the Dieruff turnovers, Saeger also emphasized the importance of taking advantage of key plays.

“We did what we weren’t able to do last week which was win key fourth downs,” Saeger said. “We lost every key play of that game and that’s why we ended up losing the game. We made some key plays, converted some third and fourth downs offensively, and stopped them defensively.”

RECORDS ... Pleasant Valley improves to 3-1, while Dieruff drops to 0-5.

RUN, RUN, RUN .. Pleasant Valley rushed 57 times Friday night, posting 319 yards on the ground. The PV defense limited Dieruff to just 57 rushing yards.

HOOKING UP ... Pleasant Valley doesn’t pass the ball much, but when they do, Papaleo normally finds his main target, Blass. “That just comes with the chemistry,” Blass said. “Rob (Papaleo) and I have been playing football since we were in the 85-weight group. The coaches trust Rob and I to get the pass completed.”

BUCKET GAME UP NEXT ... Pleasant Valley (3-1) faces Pocono Mountain East (1-3) in the annual Old Oaken Bucket game in Swiftwater next Friday. PV looks to retain the Bucket after a dominating 42-0 win last November.