Rivalry games are full of surprises

And Week 10's Eastern Pennsylvania Conference storied rivalry between Stroudsburg and Pleasant Valley was full of them.A few clutch plays on both sides of the ball and hard running from Stroudsburg's Jamaal Brome helped lift the Mounties over the Bears, 26-22.It didn't take long for the first surprise, when Stroudsburg's opening kick was "pooched". The pooch was botched by a Bears' return man and the Mounties immediately gained an extra possession.Stroudsburg capitalized on its opening drive when Brome rumbled in for a seven-yard score to cap off the eight-play sequence. The senior tailback finished with 155 yards and three scores."You never know if he's going to go down on one contact," said Stroudsburg head coach Jim Miller. "Once he gets the ball more and more, he gets hungrier and hungrier. He keeps working, working and working. The more you give him the ball, the more he gets going."But the Bears struck back toward the end of the first quarter. Brandon Keyes hit Mike Mitchell for 48 yards down the seam of a five-wide set to even the game at six apiece. Unfortunately for the Bears, Mitchell exited the contest in the second quarter and did not return."We were trying to mix up guys," said Pleasant Valley head coach Mike Versuk. "We were injured a little bit. Those guys have got plenty of reps this season, so we were confident in them."The Bears overcame a total of three first-half turnovers and took a 16-13 lead into intermission.But perhaps that straw that broke the camel's back came in the third period.Stroudsburg's quarterback, Sherwin Stewart was filling in for usual starter Bret Yarnell. Stewart had a productive game, keeping a ton of drives alive with his legs. He left the game with an injury after picking up a first down in the third period.But Yarnell surprised everyone in the stadium on the ensuing play when he took the snap.The senior quarterback unloaded a deep rope down the sideline, which was on the money, to Jordan Villafane for a 61-yard score and a brief Stroudsburg lead. It was the only pass Yarnell attempted in the game."It was definitely a different situation for me," Yarnell said. "It was just one I had to overcome. I was happy, we all did what we needed to on that play and it worked."The Bears had one more surprise left when they responded on the very next drive as time wound down in the fourth.Keyes hooked up with Brendan Gilllece for a 14-yard score to cap off a quick six-play, 73-yard drive to once again take the lead at 22-20."The kids always play hard for four quarters," said the PV coach. "That's something to always be proud of. We just have to execute better and we can't turn the ball over. But, it was a good game and we played hard."But on the ensuing drive, Brome ripped off a 39-yard chunk on the first play which set up his 11-yard game-clinching touchdown with 4:04 remaining.The Bears had two more possessions. PV had a shot on fourth-and-nine at midfield with a receiver running free down the seam, but the pass was slightly overthrown. The game was put away when Stroudsburg's Benny Pembleton picked off Keyes with twenty second left on the clock.FILLING IN NICELY ... Gilleece had 11 receptions and 113 yards entering Friday's game. Against Stroudsburg, he tallied four catches for 101 yards. He was a big part of the Bears' offense that needed new playmakers toward the end of the contest.POPULAR POOCH ... Not only did the Mounties recover a pooch kick in the first quarter, but so did the Bears. "We will pooch it occasionally," said Miller. "That one there just wasn't as deep as we wanted it. But they turned it over right off the bat. Our kids played really hard. We gave up big plays, but we didn't break. We bent, but we never broke."