Marian rolls past Shenandoah

SHENANDOAH ­— Friday the 13th. Unlucky?

Not one iota!

At least for the Marian Colts.

Marian wasn’t worried about an unlucky date and wasn’t concerned about black cats either.

The Colts were only interested in continuing their late-season victory march to the finish line for first-year coach Pat Morgans.

Without a doubt Shenandoah Valley was an underdog and it would have been a colossal upset that would have shook the mammoth coal vein that runs horizontal to the stadium and produced enough coal to last for a few centuries if it beat Marian.

That wasn’t going to happen, however.

Instead, Marian quickly asserted its talent — impressively one may add — scoring six touchdowns in the first half en route to a 44-0 whitewashing of the Blue Devils in this Schuylkill Football League Division II contest last evening.

The win unofficially clinches a District 11 Class A playoff berth for the Colts (4-4, 3-1) with two games to play.

“It feels good, we’ve got a couple of wins now and are back to .500,” said first year coach Morgans. The irony, Marian had only 203 yards of total offense, but as Morgans would point out, it takes all three phases of the game.

It felt like one of those nights for Marian at the beginning. Seth Paluck quickly set the tone when he sprinted 59 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first offensive play. Yet it wasn’t easy does it just yet. Shenandoah Valley put up a fence and stifled the Colts on their next possession, and even mounted an offensive surge of its own.

The Blue Devils (1-7, 0-3) put together a 9-play drive and reached the Marian 39, before a fourth-down pass fell incomplete. Still the Colts weren’t running on a full-head of steam, until Paluck faked a punt and rang up a nifty 48-yard touchdown run as the first quarter ended.

“I told the (team) we needed to stay focused,” explained Morgans fearing a let down after defeating Mahanoy Area last weekend. “This game you have to have all three phases to play. We did just that in that second quarter.”

Where the Colts excelled once again is with their defense. They scored twice off of pass interceptions, turned their defense loose to create a safety and were never in serious trouble with the short-handed Blue Devils who had just 19 players in uniform.

“We gave them scores,” offered first-year Shenandoah Valley coach Kevin Keating. “You can’t turn the ball over against a well-coached team and expect to win. They made plays.”

Leading 14-0, Marian’s defense doubled up the score in a jiffy. Matt Doherty picked off a deflected pass and raced 22 yards for a 21-0 lead after Lucca Stroia booted his third PAT. Seconds later, Jacob McLaughlin jumped a pass route, made a pick and bolted 36 yards for a 28-0 lead.

After the back-to-back picks, the Blue Devils turned over the ball on a fumble at their own 24. Three plays later, Max Nolter barreled into the end zone on a two-yard run. Then another Shenandoah Valley fumble left the ball at on its own 29, and Paluck, who scored five touchdowns a week ago, completed this week with his third touchdown of the night, romping 29 yards.

BY THE NUMBERS… Paluck had just seven touches to put up 143 yards rushing to go along with his three TDs and did not carry once in the second half. Marian had just 28 rushing attempts on the contest.

HURRY UP… Marian tried to run two quick plays for a touchdown near the close of the half, but time ran out. That didn’t sit well with the Blue Devils’ coaching staff in the press box.

WEIRD STAT … Marian did not record a first down in the second half, and had only six on the game. The Blue Devils, despite little offense, had just as many first downs.