Four days after the opening kickoff, the intensity of the East Stroudsburg South-Pleasant Valley game still reached its maximum potential Monday evening.

While Thursday night’s contest was halted due to weather with the score tied 6-6 and 1:48 left until halftime, the completion of the contest proved to be just as fierce.

In the end, it was the Bears’ defense that stepped up when it mattered most.

Pleasant Valley got to Eastburg South quarterback Ivan Laubach throughout the game, with a key turning point coming after Hunter Scheffner stopped Laubach on a potential game-tying two-point conversion. That stop helped the Bears hold off the Cavaliers and earn a 14-12 victory.

“The defense stepped up time after time,” Pleasant Valley head coach Blaec Saeger said. “I thought we won it and then gave it away. Then, we stopped them ... It’s up-and-down, back-and-forth. Our kids stayed together and started to make the defensive plays down the stretch.

“We had trouble holding on to the football and it cost us, but (Alex) Ecker, the kind of kid he is, he fumbled the ball and comes back and has two sacks. That’s who he is, and we don’t go anywhere without him.”

Scheffner’s interception of Laubach late in the game stopped the East Stroudsburg South offense from going anywhere.

“I was able to identify from my experience last week,” Scheffner said about the two-point conversion stop. “Their linemen really just laid down and let you get through, that’s how I got that play.

“The interception was completely random. I saw the ball and got it.”

PV caught the first big break of the game in the first quarter when the defense forced the ball out of Nathan Gray’s hands heading toward the end zone, resulting in a Pleasant Valley touchback. The Bears had a tough time stopping Gray early in the contest as the running back raced 41 yards to the house to tie the game at six.

The four-day layoff didn’t slow down Gray any, and after Alex Ecker ran in a Pleasant Valley touchdown with 9:13 left in the game, Gray broke away for a 38-yard run which set up a 1-yard Charles Capers touchdown to bring the score to 14-12.

“Nathan Gray is a special player,” East Stroudsburg South head coach Matthew Walters said. “On Thursday, he took a draw to the house, and he had a big carry in the second half to get us into the red zone. He’s just a special player. He’s only a junior, so we have two years with him. We’re going to keep working him. He’s going to be our workhorse, and I think he knows that and has that responsibility on his shoulders.

“Maybe we could’ve called (No.) 5 a couple more times tonight. Maybe that could’ve shifted some things around.”

Pleasant Valley got the ball back several times after stopping the East Stroudsburg South offense in the final seven minutes. Capers took a direct snap on the final play of the game for the Cavaliers, and threw the ball in double coverage and right into the hands of Pleasant Valley’s Dakoda Lucas to seal the win for the Bears.

UNIQUE SITUATION

... The game resumed Monday evening after two lightning delays forced Thursday’s game to be suspended. Saeger said his team watched film Friday and he then gave his players the rest of the weekend off.

PV DEFENSE COMING UP BIG

... The PV defense came up big, and Walters gave a lot of credit to the Bears. “Hats off to Pleasant Valley and what they did defensively. We knew that we needed to score when we had the ball,” he said. “They were going to try to keep the ball away from us as much as they can and they did that. We couldn’t capitalize when they did give us the football.”

ECKER MAKING BIG PLAYS

... PV’s Ecker was able to punch in the second score of the game for the Bears with a 10-yard run after a 13-play, 62-yard drive. Ecker finished with 30 carries - including seven on the go-ahead drive.