Pleasant Valley had a tough first test Friday night playing Bethlehem Catholic in the season opener.

Although the 28-0 score didn’t reflect on the Bears’ effort, head coach Blaec Saeger was pleased with how his team held up against the Golden Hawks.

“Very good Lehigh Valley team and you’re going to see scores all over the Lehigh Valley beating the Pocono teams by large margins and I thought we hung around pretty well,” Saeger said. “We competed and we were very tough and physical. They were better and faster than us. We got to get a little better and I think good things are on the horizon for us. I think we showed a lot of toughness and physicality and that we can hang.”

The Pleasant Valley defense held Bethlehem Catholic to three offensive touchdowns on the night.

The Golden Hawks struck first in the opening quarter when sophomore quarterback Cayden Vassa connected with Mekhi Lapierre on a 51-yard touchdown pass.

Vassa also ran in a score to extend the lead to 14-0 early in the second quarter.

“Defense played like I expected it to,” Saeger said “Very, very tough and aggressive. They held a very big offense to three touchdowns. Coach Miller’s schemes are fantastic and we are always going to put 11 tough kids out there that will just do anything to win. I’m not surprised our defense played well.”

The Golden Hawks put points on the board on some big plays.

“What I’ll say is up front, honestly Pleasant Valley kicked our tails a little bit,” Bethlehem Catholic head coach Ty Ward said. “I think our offensive line, we had some young kids out there. Our stud offensive tackle didn’t play tonight. We had some growing pains and they beat us up a little bit, so it took us longer than I would’ve like to on offense to get things clicking. Our guys kept fighting. We got to keep fighting and getting better. Each week is going to get harder for us and this team has got a lot of growth and a lot of really good young players.”

Cramping was an issue on a hot August night as Pleasant Valley starting quarterback Valentino-Byers Robinson and Alex Ecker went down in the third quarter, but are expected to be back to full strength next week against Dieruff.

“It was a muggy night,” Ward said. “I think both teams were constantly cramping up and just having to fight through adversity.”

Bethlehem Catholic made it a three-touchdown game when Jacob Sutton broke free for a 66-yard rushing touchdown late in the third quarter. The Golden Hawks added another touchdown in the fourth quarter after Solomon Sutton picked off Pleasant Valley backup quarterback Blake Walters to make it 27-0.

Pleasant Valley travels to play Dieruff next week and Bethlehem Catholic has its season home opener against Whitehall.

VASSA’S PASSING ... Bethlehem Catholic quarterback Cayden Vassa completed all four of his passes in the first half and struggled a little in the second half with passing. Ward was impressed by how his sophomore quarterback did Friday night. “Cayden Vassa is the most calm, cool and collected sophomore I’ve ever met in my life. He missed some throws he probably wish he could have back. That stuff will clean up as we go, but he does a great job at getting the offense in order.”

PV RUSHING ... Senior Aaron Rehrig put up the most rushing yards on the night for the Bears with 28. Hunter Scheffner also got some more time in the backfield after starting running back Alex Ecker went down with cramps in the third quarter, but was able to put up 21 yards in his first game as a starter. Senior quarterback Valentino Byers-Robinson also had some rushing yards in the game until cramping up in the third quarter.

COMING INTO THE GAME ... Blake Walters took over for Byers-Robinson in the third quarter and completed a 21-yard to Dakota Lucas to put the Bears deep into Bethlehem Catholic territory. Although the Bears didn’t score, Walters got in quality minutes at QB and connected on a seven-yard pass to Aaron Haden.