Turnovers. They are the Achilles’ heel of an offense, and they plagued Pleasant Valley at the worst possible time Thursday night.

In a rematch of the Bucket Game from two weeks ago, Pleasant Valley and Pocono Mountain East met for the second straight season in the District 11 Class 5A football semifinals.

Despite the Bears bringing the bucket back to Brodheadsville earlier in the season, the Cardinals got their revenge when it mattered most, taking advantage of four Pleasant Valley turnovers to earn a 17-14 victory and end the Bears’ season.

“(They) pretty much ran the exact same defense,” Pleasant Valley head coach Blaec Saeger said. “They just played it a lot better today. Pocono East played the worst game of their season (two weeks ago), and they played a much cleaner game today. We had turnovers. They didn’t. And that was the difference.”

The Bears opened by forcing a quick three-and-out, but committed their first turnover on their opening possession with a fumble at midfield.

Both teams traded defensive stops before East broke the scoreless tie early in the second quarter. Evan Garrett carried six times on a nine-play drive, capping it with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Garrett finished as the Cardinals’ leading rusher with 63 yards on 19 carries and surpassed 1,000 career rushing yards in the process.

Pleasant Valley responded on its next possession with a 10-play drive that took 5:56 off the clock. Following a 20-yard run by Chris Ward, the senior took the next snap and connected with Sean Cobb for a 13-yard catch-and-run to tie the score at 7-7.

Cobb also finished with 136 rushing yards on 13 carries.

East (7-4) regained the lead less than four minutes later on another 10-play drive. Highlighted by a 45-yard pass from CJ Serfass to Kevin Davis, the possession ended with the Cardinals’ quarterback scoring on a 1-yard run with under two minutes remaining in the half.

Pleasant Valley’s next possession was cut short by an interception from East’s Ben Surovcik, preserving the Cardinals’ 14-7 lead at halftime.

The teams traded turnovers in the third quarter, with Pleasant Valley’s William Breuer intercepting a pass from Serfass before quarterback Brandt Wines was strip-sacked eight plays later.

The turnovers and defensive stops kept both teams off the scoreboard in the third.

The Bears (6-5) finally broke through in the fourth, completing a 95-yard drive that began late in the third quarter. Ward capped the 12-play march with a 4-yard touchdown run, his eighth carry of the possession, to tie the score at 14-14 with under eight minutes remaining.

Ward finished with 125 yards on 21 carries.

Both defenses responded, forcing three consecutive punts before Pleasant Valley committed its fourth turnover at a costly moment.

Ward’s pass was intercepted by Elijan Jewell, giving the Cardinals possession at the Bears’ 23-yard line. Lucas Angst then connected on a 36-yard field goal to put East back in front with just under two minutes left.

Pleasant Valley’s final possession took the Bears from their own 28 to the Cardinals’ 25, but Wines’ fourth-down pass fell incomplete, sealing the victory for East.

“I had a heart-to-heart with them right before we left the locker room tonight for the game,” East head coach Dustin Thomas said. “I just told them I love God first, my daughter’s a close 1A, and then right underneath that, these guys. I just think they did a tremendous job tonight fighting through all the emotion and adversity.”

The loss stings for the Bears, but for Saeger, the end of the season means saying goodbye to a senior class that helped turn the program around after going winless as sophomores.

“The real thing is there (are) 14 guys over there that I just love,” he said. “They’re just incredible people, and the big sting is I’m never going to get to coach them again. The loss, I’ll get over that real quick. Losing that group of people, I ain’t getting over that one quick.

“They’re just a great group, and they’re the group that were sophomores getting thrown into the fire when we went 0-11, and they’re the group that persevered and decided this program is going to have another turnaround. They were the group that (won) back-to-back championships, got the bucket back this year, so many accolades.”

ONE LAST TIME … Pleasant Valley’s 14 seniors are Ward, CJ Cornell, Wines, Nate Tyner, Breuer, Jacob George, Tyler C. Brown, Tyler F. Brown, Evan Tomaszewski, Ryan Fonseca, Sam Deemer, Gavin Bates, Nick Colella and Colin O’Neil.

MOVING ON … Pocono Mountain East advances to the Class 5A championship game against Southern Lehigh next Friday at Catasauqua. The Spartans defeated East Stroudsburg South 42-10 in their semifinal.

PM East 17, Pleasant Vy. 14

PM East 0 14 0 3 - 17

Pleasant Valley 0 7 0 7 - 14

PE - Garrett 2 run (Angst kick)

PV - Cobb 13 pass from Ward (Duran kick)

PE - Serfass 1 run (Angst kick)

PV - Ward 4 run (Duran kick)

PE - FG Angst 36

Records: Pocono Mountain East (7-4); Pleasant Valley (6-5).