HEGINS - Marian is back on board!

For the past two weeks, the Colts were taking more hits than a boxer staggering for 10 counts.Marian didn't look like Marian football over the final two weeks of the 2016 season. But in one sweeping motion, the ship seems to be righted again, when the Colts pulled out all the stops, regained their semblance and now look poised and confident to defend their District 11, Class A championship come next Friday evening against Williams Valley.Riding the legs of Mike Neary and quarterback Ethan Kuczynski, Marian thrust an early spear right at the heart of Tri-Valley and came away looking like a team that had all the preseason promise in claiming an impressive 28-7 victory."We just made up our up minds that we were going to play Marian football," said strapping 6-6, 265-pound senior tackle Billy Derr, who looked dominating and fearless. "We made a lot of (mental) mistakes in those losses. Tonight it wasn't going to happen."Marian played faster than it had since Week 3, when it submerged North Schuylkill in a surprising 14-13 win. To be sure, the defense shone, too, but the bottom line was the way the Colts offense came flying into the picture."We had (one) of our best practices of the season Wednesday," pointed out veteran Marian coach Stan Dakosty. "But if you had been at our practice on Monday, you would have never thought that we would play so good. But hey, that is a credit to our coaching staff to get this team ready to play and our senior leadership."Marian's A-game came up shooting bull's-eyes in its first two possessions. The Colts took the opening kickoff, raised a lot of eyebrows marching methodically, with an 11-play picture-perfect drive; nary a mistake. And when Neary carried the final three times, the last a two-yard run, there seemed to be an air of assurance."We knew this (could) be our last game, so we tried our hardest," said Neary after polishing off a season-best 137 yards rushing on 11 lugs, including a game-capper 94-yard scintillating run with 7:18 to play. "There was no way we were going to lose. We had a hard week of practice and we were focused."As much as Neary's offense made the highlight film, his defense was superb along with defensive ends Nick Erbe and Matt Stanziola."Neary was all over the place," noted Dakosty. "Especially with his feet. Max Nolter started for the first time at guard, (tackle) Carter Eckmen did a fantastic job."The Colts kept the heat on the Bulldogs' defense on their second possession. It took just three plays to crack the end zone, driving 52 yards to pay dirt, as shifty quarterback Kuczynski blazed 35 yards for the second score."He is such a great athlete, all we need to do is put the ball in his hands, and Ethan makes big plays," said his coach. There was almost a third touchdown in as many tries for the Colts, but a fumble ended their third drive of the night, before Marian hit the end zone midway through the second quarter.This time Tri-Valley forked over the ball on a muffed punt at its own 15, after Neary picked up five yards, Kuczynski lofted a pass to Erbe for the final 10 yards for a 21-0 lead.However, the Bulldogs finally had an offensive answer to open the third quarter going 56 yards on a 15-play drive, which was sustained on a fake punt by Ike Lucas who scampered 17 yards. When the Bulldogs reached the 3 yard-line, and a first-and-goal, it took all four tries to cash home a score on a 1-yard plunge by Yoder."I thought we had them stopped for a moment," said Erbe. "We wanted the shutout, but we got the win… which is want we really wanted."Tri-Valley would later pin the Colts at their own 6 yard-line with 9:05 to play.But, then up stepped Neary … and in one sweeping motion, the tailback raced around his right end, caught the corner, and never stopped until he crossed the goal line. His 94-yard surge put the Bulldogs away."Once I made that cut, I knew I wasn't going to be caught," mentioned the fleet-footed senior.ON DECK ... Up next for the Colts will be Williams Valley, next Friday night at a neutral site-probably Schuylkill Haven, because of the turf at Rotary Field.TOUGH COOKIE ... The Bulldogs brought a pair of physical runners to the table; Scheib is a 240-pound bulldozer of a runner, as his teammate Schwalm.UNSUNG NOT UNNOTICED ... Marian's Gunner Rehrig was all over the field with his tremendous defensive play. Kudos goes out to tackle Zach Falls and Kyle Plesh.