Delaware Valley football undoes Valley View after struggle

Last week Delaware Valley defeated a talented and tough Wilkes-Barre team, on October 8, a big win because a skilled Valley View team was on the horizon.

Last year was Valley View’s best year in many years and they beat DV convincingly. So Friday’s game on Oct 14 loomed as the game of the year for the NEPA area and it proved to be just that.

DV came out on fire. Their defense was smothering and forced VV to punt on their first possession. DV takes over and has a nice run and then a sweet pass to score in 2 plays. VVs second possession still no gain. Now DV goes to its bread and butter plays, but VV is now playing tough run coverage. Someone did their homework and had VV prepared for the DV run game.

Valley Valley starts up their run game peppered with passes and chewed up much of the clock and scored. At this point it became a nip and tuck game. The half ended at a 14-14 tie.

At this point a VV alumni told me that VV is a great second half team. What they didn’t know was how DV just wears teams down and breaks their will towards the end of the game.

Both teams scored, but DV’s extra point missed. VV leads 21-20. A DV punt is blocked and VV takes advantage and scores, making the score 27-20.

Now DV buckles down . Several runs and a pass to score a touchdown. DV goes for the 2 point conversion and score--28-27.

From this point on DV owned the game. Everything was working, passing and running. That’s not to say Valley View surrendered. They kept fighting, but DV started rolling and could not be slowed down.

DV finally had the lead of 34-27 and got the ball back with about 3 1/2 minutes to play. DV just needed to eat up the clock. DV got 2 first downs and on about the 50 yard line just needed one more first down to decide the game. A run is set up for Paulie Weinrich and he gets the first down. A roar goes up from the DV fans, but Paulie keeps plowing along, breaks several tackle attempts and bulldozes into the end zone for the clincher. Now it’s total jubilation with The DV fans.

VV tried desperately to score to make the game look respectable but a pass was intercepted. The next couple of plays DV took the knee running out the clock and winning the game 41-27.

The Delaware Valley coach must have these kids in fantastic condition because many of them play offense and defense, with no let up at the end of the game.

The two Machado brothers had great games but the back breakers were Paulie Weinrich and Ryder Machado. missed key plays that could have made the difference in the game.

Valley View is still having a very good year at 6-2, and Delaware Valley is cooking, with potential playoffs in three weeks. They have to win these last regular season games though and next up is a good Scranton team.