NORTHAMPTON — The story behind Pleasant Valley’s 14-7 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference loss to Northampton last night was the Bears’ three touchdowns that never made it to the scoreboard.

With 5:21 left in the first quarter in a scoreless game Thursday night, PV’s Sean Cobb broke off a 60-yard TD run that was called back for a holding penalty.

Early in the second quarter, Chris Ward was in full sprint from 13 yards out and about to score when Northampton’s Logan Rusnock punched out the ball at the 1-yard line.

The ball was recovered by the Konkrete Kids in the end zone for a touchback.

On the very next play from their own 20-yard line, Chase Kessler cracked through the left side of the Bears defense en route to an 80-yard touchdown run to give the home team a 7-0 lead that stood until halftime.

Then in the third quarter with Northampton (4-2) at PV’s 7-yard line on a fourth-and-one to go for a first down, the snap sailed over their quarterback. The loose ball was picked up by Pleasant Valley with an open field for a defensive scoring touchdown, but the play was ruled dead by an inadvertent whistle from one of the officials.

By rule, the play was a “do over.” Kessler was subsequently stopped short of the first down, turning the ball over to the Bears.

“We certainly had our share of bad luck,” said Pleasant Valley head coach Blaec Saeger. “The official who blew the inadvertent whistle felt bad and gave us his apology, but the rule is what it is, so we lost a great chance to tie the score.”

The Bears (2-4) tied the score in the fourth quarter on a 92-yard drive, highlighted by a 57-yard run from Ward who then bulldozed in from the 1-yard line to make it 7-7.

Following the ensuing kickoff, the Bears’ Wiiliam Breuer tackled Kessler for a 1-yard loss on fourth down, giving the ball back to his offense at midfield with 8:42 left to play.

On first down, Ward ran for seven yards off the right side. Cobb then moved the chains with a 5-yard gain on a jet sweep. After Ward picked up six yards to the K-Kids’ 38, Northampton’s Robert Wambold intercepted a tipped pass to end the drive.

Facing a fourth-and-five at the Bears’ 33-yard line, Northampton quarterback Luke Stopay found Evan Kleppinger streaking across the middle for a catch-and-run TD that lifted the home team to a 14-7 lead with 4:23 left to play.

Ward and Kessler both had monster games. PV’s senior running back ran for 147 yards on 18 carries, while Northampton’s junior workhorse lugged the rock 28 times for 184 yards.

Saeger was much more pleased with his team’s effort than he was last week against East Stroudsburg South.

“We went toe-to-toe with another great program from Lehigh Valley,” he said. “We were physical throughout the game. We lost to Whitehall by three, and tonight by one score, proving we can play against teams with bigger rosters and bigger players.

“I have no concerns with our team going forward. We get East Stroudsburg North next week and then the Bucket game. We’ll be ready to get some wins and turn our season around.”

THE ONE AND ONLY … Northampton’s passing touchdown in the fourth quarter was its first TD through the air this season.

CUTTING THE CLOCK IN HALF … The game on the field was evenly matched as was the time of possession. Both teams had the ball for exactly 24 minutes apiece.

TRENCH WARFARE … Only 17 total passes were thrown by both teams for 78 yards while the two teams combined for 464 rushing yards, on mostly hard earned runs between the tackles.

Northampton 14,

Pleasant Valley 7

Pleasant Valley 0 0 0 7 - 7

Northampton 0 7 0 7 - 14

N - Kessler 80 run (Jackson kick)

PV - Ward 1 run (Duran kick)

N - Kleppinger 33 pass from Stopay (Jackson kick)