A coach's team better execute when he calls an aggressive game plan.

Marian did just that for head coach Stan Dakosty during the District 11 class A semifinal game against Mahanoy Area on a windy Friday night.The crowd caught a glimpse of how diverse this Colts' offense is when it is completely healthy, during a 21-12 victory against the Golden Bears."I never thought I'd say this in all of my years of coaching - that loss last week, in the long term, may have been one of the best things that happened to us," said Dakosty. "I hate to say that as a coach, but we were sluggish last week, and we had a very intense week of practice because of that."Marian took advantage of some nice field position early in the game and methodically put six on the scoreboard behind a 14-yard K.J Snerr scamper.But wait, Snerr does more.Dakosty dialed up a halfback pass play on a critical third down n the second quarter - and remember, it wasn't too long ago when the team's star tailback was behind center chucking the ball for the Colts. Snerr initially received the pitch from his quarterback Ethan Kuczynski and sprinted to his right for a moment, only to fire across the field to hit his signal-caller on a dime, in stride, streaking down the opposite sideline for a drive-extending 33-yard gain. Instead of settling for a chip-shot field goal, the star tailback finished off the gutsy drive with four-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal.All of the chips were on the table, and Marian showed that it wasn't going to settle for anything in a game of this magnitude."We were able to take a couple of shots down field and we thought we could hit them, and we made some big pass plays despite the weather and wind," explained the Marian coach. "He (Snerr) got hurt last week and we missed him. He got banged up then, but he came to play today."Our offensive line did a great job, (Mahanoy) was bringing eight or nine guys in the box. It's do or die and you gotta make plays in a championship game, the margin of error gets shorter and shorter."Credit the Bears, who turned to and responded positively behind their diverse play-making QB Mason Ryan. The senior topped off a 10-play drive with a one-yard QB plunge before halftime, and also broke the ice after halftime with another 11-yard score. The senior showed why he's been a staple of the Bears' program over the past four years, as he racked up 112 yards despite the loss."Mason (Ryan) was basically created to run this offense and (Lenny) Dulsky's numbers stand for themselves," said Bears' head coach Dave Holman. "Those two guys were in the gym working in January. This stuff doesn't just come, I hope that the legacy they left, our younger guys will build off of that even more."Mahanoy was two points shy of tying the game because of a penalty on the extra-point attempt after Ryan's first score. Holman's squad was forced two go for after each touchdown to try and level the game, but couldn't convert on either.Snerr's final touchdown in the third frame put the game away for the Colts. He tallied up 146 total yards during the Colts' semifinal playoff win.Dakosty said, "I'm very, very excited about playing Tri-Vavlley - and proud of these guys for bouncing back after having a difficult week. We're still who we were three weeks ago, and we think we're still a pretty good football team."A SENSE OF CAMARADERIE ... Marian senior Aaron DeAngelo has been a force at the wide receiver position this year. He accounted for 65 of Kuczynski's 66 passing yards during the win. He said, "We have a very tight-knit group of kids. On and off the field, we're all best friends and we're always together. Most of the time I'm Ethan's (Kuczynski) number one option, and it's great to have him in the backfield throwing the ball."NEXT MAN UP... The Colts' defensive line forced Mahanoy Area to turn the ball over on downs on back to back possession in the fourth quarter. The emergence of defensive linemen such as Kyle Plesch and freshman Seth Paluck have turned this front-seven into a force to be reckoned with - and both have a lot of football yet to be played. Dakosty said, "The whole defense has to play as a team. You have to stay with your assignments and be very discipline."