MAHANOY CITY - Marian went into halftime with the lead and all the momentum.

Neither lasted very long.

Two huge plays in the opening minutes of the third quarter swung the lead and momentum back to Mahanoy Area and it never surrendered either one.

The Golden Bears dominated the ball, the clock and the scoring after intermission and pulled away for a 34-18 victory over the Colts on Friday night.

Marian scored twice in the final two minutes of the second quarter - including a gadget-play TD on the final play of the half - to take an 18-14 lead.

“The way the first half ended could have taken the will away from a team, but our kids didn’t let that happen,” said Mahanoy Area coach Paul Babinsky. “They came out and responded immediately with some big plays to start the third quarter.”

The first big play happened on the second half kickoff when the Colts fumbled the ball and Mahanoy recovered at the 22-yard line. It looked like Marian might survive the miscue when it forced the Bears into a fourth-and-14 situation. But quarterback Ben Hanley lofted a perfect fade pass to Chris Cuff in the corner of the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown that gave the Golden Bears a 20-18 lead.

“Without a doubt, that fumble on the kickoff really hurt,” said Marian coach Stan Dakosty. “There’s no individual to blame, the ball bounced around a little, it looked like we never got good control of it ... that’s football. But it was obviously a big play.”

“We still had a chance to escape without giving up points. But (Ben) Manley is a great athlete. He made a lot of big plays tonight, including a great throw on that touchdown.”

Dakosty said turning the ball over and allowing fourth-and-long conversions are things his team has a tough time overcoming at this stage of its development,

“We have a great group of hard working kids, but we still aren’t at the point where we want to be as a program,” said Dakosty. “Because of that, we have no margin for error. To win games against good teams, we have to play clean football. It’s extremely hard for us to make the kind of mistakes we did tonight and still win.”

The Colts not only committed a pair of turnovers in the game, but each of Mahanoy’s first three touchdowns came on fourth down plays. The Bears scored TDs on a fourth-and-4 play, a fourth-and-7 play, and a fourth-and-14 play.

“I didn’t even realize that,” said Babinsky. “But we have some really good athletes in the backfield in Ben (Manley) and Colm (McGroarty), and Chris (Cuff) is a really good receiver. So we have kids who can make plays.”

Once in the lead, Mahanoy did what it does best - run the ball and chew time off the clock.

The Bears increased their lead to 27-18 on a McGroarty six-yard run with 4:27 left in the third quarter and then iced the victory when Manley’s 12-yard run with 2:54 remaining in the game capped a 12-play drive that chewed over eight minutes off the clock.

“They have a veteran offensive line and one of our concerns coming in was that if they got a lead, they would control the ball and the clock ... and that’s what happened in the second half,” said Dakosty. “But we have to regroup and bounce back from this loss. We still have four regular season games remaining. There’s still a lot of football to play.”

BIG PLAY COLTS ... Despite running just 12 offensive plays from scrimmage in the opening half, Marian scored three touchdowns. The Colts got an 86-yard kickoff return by Mike Silliman, a 57-yard screen pass from Bruce Hopeck to Joey Walko, and a 20-yard pass from Hopeck to Carysn Chambers for their scores.

SPECIAL TEAMS, SPECIAL PLAY ... Silliman’s long kickoff return wasn’t the only big special teams play for the Colts. Marian also got a long punt return from Chambers right before halftime to set up its go-ahead score. Chambers returned the kick 42 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the Mahanoy 20-yard line with :03 left in the half. Marian called time out, returned to the field, then quickly broke its huddle and sprinted out of it into a swinging gate formation. The play resulted in the Hopeck to Chambers touchdown.

BEARS WITH THE BALL ... Mahanoy Area held a dominating 33:34-14;26 advantage in time of possession. The Golden Bears ran 60 offensive plays compared to just 27 for Marian.

POSTSEASON IMPACT ... Although it’s barely past the midway point of the season, last night’s game could have a huge impact on the District Class 1A playoff race. The Bears and Colts entered the game with 3-2 records and in a virtual tie for the fourth and final playoff spot. The win gives Mahanoy an edge heading into the final four games of the season.