MAHANOY CITY — Are the Colts back in the saddle?

Or is it a lucky streak that the Marian football team is riding?

Five weeks into the 2025 season, the Colts are now perfect after downing winless archrival Mahanoy Area on Friday evening, 35-13, at Alumni Stadium on Bill Fazio Field.

It’s the first time since 2006 that a Marian football team has had five wins to open the season.

Don’t take the final score the wrong way; Mahanoy inflicted turnovers on itself and was, at times, its own worst enemy. Oh, Marian rolled to a 28-0 halftime lead then kicked in the running clock by going out 35-0 in the second half, but it was far from an exercise in precise execution.

Mahanoy Area found the pigskin elusive at times, fumbling away four of its six mishandles. It threw two interceptions; one led to a Dante Tate 32-yard touchdown. Tate also had the other pick.

To boot, the Colts ran off eight plays at one stretch to score three touchdowns. They took an early 7-0 lead with 6:03 to play in the first quarter.

Rory Dixon busted loose for an 8-yard scoot to the end zone. On Marian’s second possession, Dixon and his teammates needed only three plays to bag a second touchdown. That was following a Mahanoy Area fumble at its own 22. Tate then hiked the count on his interception, and Jake Tom’s extra point gave his team a 21-0 lead.

Then, on a first-down play, Gregory Tirpak unleashed a 65-yard TD bomb to speedy Tom with 3:46 to play in the opening half. Tirpak, a sophomore and rising star at quarterback, was nearly flawless in the first half.

He only misfired on one pass, throwing for 163 yards, and ended the evening 6-for-9. Tom had two receptions for 80 yards, Dixon caught two for 69 yards, and Rocco Griguoli caught two for 17 yards.

But just before the end of the half, the Golden Bears defense started to tee-off, collaring and sacking Tirpak with two big losses, as he was unable to avoid the charging, scrappy defenders.

“We’ve got to clean up some things, that’s for sure,” said second-year Marian coach Bill O’Gurek. “We’ve just got to get more consistent (with our run) blocking.”

For sure, better pass protection at times and better blocking to free the talented Dixon.

“We’ve got good weapons in our passing game, but if we want to be the team that we think we can be, we got to unlock (Dixon),” O’Gurek said. “You know when we get him in the open field, he is so elusive. The last couple of weeks we haven’t been able to do that.”

That’s mainly because the other teams are keying on Dixon.

Marian certainly had some issues at times. It lost the momentum right before the half expired. Tirpak was sacked twice by Mahanoy’s suddenly stalwart defense, resulting in 12 yards in losses. Though Tirpak and Dixon nearly clicked on the final play of the half, a pass that covered 45 yards to the 5 of Mahanoy Area, Dixon couldn’t get into the end zone.

After scoring four touchdowns in the first 24 minutes, Tom caught Mahanoy’s defense napping and ran a fake punt, zooming 53 yards down the far sideline with 9:33 left in the third quarter. It was the only score the Colts managed over the next 22-pluse minutes.

“We obviously made too many mistakes with the fumbles and mental breakdowns,” said first-year Mahanoy coach Mike Connolly. “It also killed us with dumb penalties.”

Mahanoy’s standout two-way player senior Kyler Quick cashed in with a 52-yard touchdown run with 9:33 to play. Speedy teammate Damien Contreras raced 14 yards for Mahanoy’s other touchdown.

QUIET SECOND HALF … Marian stumbled in the second half. Dixon ran for all of 6 yards, and the only big offensive surge came on Tom’s 53-yard run off the fake punt. The Colts fumbled on their second possession of the second half, ran three more plays in the third quarter and punted to open the fourth. O’Gurek called off the dogs at that juncture.

GOTTA LIKE ’EM … Quick delivered terrific linebacker play all evening for Mahanoy. For Marian, Rodino brothers Dominic and Damian were back in the highlife again, while Jah Bushati, a top two-way performer, was ever present along the line. Tate stepped up his game in the secondary with his two picks.

MISSING THE ACTION … Tyler Price and Jason Ashfield were sidelined.

NOW IT BEGINS … True grit for the Colts comes to the fore in the second half of the season. Next Saturday is homecoming with Minersville. Then comes a road trip to Schuylkill Haven and a home game with Williams Valley.

Marian 35, Mahanoy 13

Marian 7 21 7 0 - 35

Mahanoy Area 0 0 0 13 - 13

MC - Dixon 8-run (Tom kick)

MC - Dixon 10 run (Tom kick)

MC - Tate 32 interception return (Tom kick)

MC - Tom 65 pass from Tirpak (Tom kick)

MC - Tom 53 run (Tom kick)

MA - Quick 52 run (pass failed)

MA - Contreras 14 run (Redgate kick)