Ethan Bench’s eye-popping passing statistics played a key role in Shenandoah Valley’s victory over Marian on Saturday night at Stan Dakosty Field at Men of Marian Stadium.

The biggest reason for the Blue Devils’ 45-26 win over the Colts in a Schuylkill League Division II contest, however, was the ability of the Shenandoah Valley defense to tackle and get key fourth-down stops.

Bench completed 13-of-25 passes for 355 yards and six touchdowns as Shenandoah Valley overcome an early 14-point deficit with five straight scores. David Burrous hauled in five passes for 112 yards and three TDs, while Todd Seiger had three receptions for 149 yards and two scores as the Blue Devils improved to 4-1 overall.

“This was probably the best win for me as a coach, and the best win for them as a team,” Shenandoah Valley coach Dave Bench said. “Even when I was an assistant coach with Ed (Moran), before I was a head coach, we never succeeded against Marian.

“Just having this win, getting this momentum, coming back from 14 down and winning the game ... this is a big win for us.”

Early on, it looked like Shenandoah Valley was in for another long night.

Last week, the Blue Devils allowed Tri-Valley’s Parker Hatter to run for 256 yards and score five touchdowns in a 49-10 loss at home. Shenandoah Valley struggled to tackle, surrendering 355 yards rushing.

Saturday, Marian did the same thing for one quarter.

Tyler Price gained 137 of his 205 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns in the opening frame, and fullback Jason Ashfield ran for 33 yards and another TD as the Colts raced out to a 20-6 lead after one period.

Dave Bench said he rallied the troops, reminded them of what they talked about in regards to tackling all week in practice, and the defense answered the challenge.

“Our guys were all tackling high,” he said. “We practiced and we preached this defense that we wanted to use against Marian ... we were high and always shoulder tackling. We regrouped the troops, they started getting lower and then they realized that if we got lower, maybe this guy won’t run all over us. It’s what we did the rest of the game.

“We shifted the line around a little bit, tightened them up,” he continued. “But this defense that we practiced all week, they just weren’t executing in the first quarter. We moved our ends in a little bit and just tackled low. That worked out for us pretty good.”

Marian (2-3) rushed 13 times for 170 yards in the first quarter. After that, the Colts garnered just 81 yards on 28 carries.

“We went over it at practice,” Burrous said. “Tackling low, wrapping up, tackling as a whole team. We weren’t team tackling last week. We were playing like ... We needed to play better.”

The game hinged on four fourth-down plays, all of which went in Shenandoah Valley’s favor.

The first came on Shenandoah’s first possession of the second quarter. The Devils moved 60 yards on eight plays, but faced a fourth-and-goal from the 5.

Bench dropped back and floated a perfect pass to Burrous in the corner of the end zone for a TD that sliced the lead to 20-12.

“I had an out,” Burrous said. “That built so much confidence for the team. Everybody came over, started celebrating with us. It was amazing.”

Added Dave Bench: “That kind of shifted the momentum of the game for us there. That was big.”

Shenandoah Valley’s defense responded by closing the first half with three straight stops. The Blue Devils’ offense, meanwhile, got its high-powered passing game in gear.

A 58-yard TD pass to a wide-open Seiger made it 20-18. After an interception by Gene Sinkus, Shenandoah Valley converted a key fourth-and-8 on its next possession with a 33-yard pass from Bench to Sinkus.

That set up a 20-yard TD pass from Bench to Burrous with 17 seconds left in the half to give Shenandoah Valley a 25-20 halftime lead.

“We ran the ball really well in that first quarter,” Marian coach Billy O’Gurek said. “I thought we were finishing drives. But once they started hitting some long passes on us, you could see the energy get back on their sidelines. We had a hard time covering them.

“We told the kids at halftime that we were in this position a couple of times already this year — last week (against Minersville) it was 0-0, it was 7-7 against Panther Valley — and we came out with big second halves. I thought we played better in the second half, but we still weren’t able to put together the drives to put points on the board.”

Shenandoah Valley’s quick-strike offense opened the second half with a 60-yard TD from Bench to Burrous, then let its defense make big plays.

The Blue Devils made key fourth-down stops on Marian’s next two possessions, the first on a fourth-and-1 at the Shenandoah Valley 43, the second on a fourth-and-3 at the SV45.

The Blue Devils’ interior line stuffed QB Greg Tirpak on the first play, ending a 10-play drive. Chris Redanauer led the charge to stop Price on the second fourth-down play, halting a 13-play march.

“It was great,” QB Ethan Bench said of the stops. “I think I was more excited than they were about those stops.”

Added Burrous: “We were calling out their plays. We watched film. The plays that they were doing, we all know them. It’s just filling gaps.

“The defensive line played amazing, breaking through the line every play. It was great.”

The defensive stops allowed Shenandoah Valley to keep the momentum and prevented any type of Marian comeback.

Ethan Bench equaled his career-high of six TD passes with a 23-yard strike to Sinkus with 5:40 left, a play in which Sinkus ripped the ball out of Dante Tate’s hands for the score.

After a 59-yard TD pass from Tirpak to Price, Shenandoah Valley iced the win with a 3-yard run by Joel Nunez. That score came after another big fourth-down play — a 27-yard pass from Bench to Sinkus.

“It’s amazing,” Burrous said of the win. “This win is going to build confidence and build so much for us. People need to start putting respect on our name. The Devils are back.”

Shenandoah Vy. 45, Marian 26

Shenandoah Valley 6 19 6 14 - 45

Marian 20 0 0 6 - 26

M - Price 52 run (Grochowski kick)

M - Ashfield 5 run (Grochowski kick)

SV - Seiger 80 pass from Bench (pass failed)

M - Price 4 run (kick blocked)

SV - Burrous 5 pass from Bench (run failed)

SV - Seiger 58 pass from Bench (pass failed)

SV - Burrous 20 pass from Bench (Mentusky kick)

SV - Burrous 60 pass from Bench (kick failed)

SV - Sinkus 23 pass from Bench (Mentusky kick)

M - Price 59 pass from Tirpak (pass failed)

SV - Nunez 3 run (Mentusky kick)