SHENANDOAH - Shenandoah Valley’s football team woke up the echoes on a night when the Blue Devils were recognizing one of their great teams from the past.

Scoring 20 unanswered second-half points, Shenandoah beat visiting Marian, 26-9.

Shenandoah Valley was paying tribute to the 1996 District 11 championship team, which came within one game of playing for a state Class A championship. During the second half, the Devils played like a modern day version of that team as it rallied from a halftime deficit for its first victory over the season..

It also helped SV that Marian once again struggled to hold onto the football. Eight times the Colts slipped up unable to keep their mitts on the pigskin, though it only lost one, several of the bobbles came on third or fourth down plays and ended drives.

“We lost a lot of momentum down inside the 20-yard line by fumbling three straight times,” Marian coach Stan Dakosty said. “But I don’t want to take anything away from Shenandoah. They earned the win. They found a way to beat us.”

The Colts looked poised to get their first win of the season as touchdown and a safety gave them a 9-6 halftime advantage, and one could sense they were building momentum on the back of superb senior running back Matt Martin.

Martin hammered away for 206 yards on 30 carries in the game, leading Dakosty to say, “Give me 11 Matty Martin’s and I’m good to go.”

Trailing 6-0, the Colts marched 54 yards in eight plays to take the lead with 10:24 left in the second quarter. Martin zipped around the right side for an 11-yard scoring run and Caden Kash’s extra-point made it 7-6.

Marian was on the march again on its next possession. It reached the SV 5 before a mishandled snap lost eight yards. SV’s Joey Vevasis eventually ended the threat with an interception.

However, Marian’s defense dug in and got a safety to increase the lead to 9-6 lead.

The Colts headed goalward again following the free kick, but this time stalled out at the Devils’ 21.

To compound things, Marian tossed another interception at the onset of the second half, shifting the momentum in favor of the Blue Devils. Two plays later, quarterback Owen Kosar connected with the speedy Nick Ryan who broke free en route to a 63-yard touchdown.

“In that first half we face some adversity, we had a kid go down (Zach Slater), he’s an emotional kid for us,” Shenandoah coach Ed Moran said of his player who was carted off in an ambulance. “The second half we came out and handled the adversity and made plays.”

Marian looked on point to regain the lead, moving from its own 35 to the Shenandoah 15, but a couple of lost yardage plays ended the drive.

Shenandoah then went airborne as Kosar was near perfection connecting on five of six attempts, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to the glue-fingered Ryan for his second score.

The Colts squandered yet another scoring attempt on downs at the SV 21. Five plays later, Kosar fired pass to a slanting Vevasis, who just broke contain and outraced Marian’s defenders to the goal line with 6:03 remaining.

OH, WHAT A NIGHT … Kosar, Vevasis, Benjamin Dempster and Ryan all had big games for Shenandoah.

HOW ABOUT MATT …Martin truly is a terrific football player. He carried the Marian running attack as he has been doing the entire season.