Rivalry games create a raucous atmosphere — and a lot of times a hard-nosed physical style of football.

That is what is expected this week as Marian (2-0) heads to Lansford to take on Panther Valley (0-2) in the Times News Game of the Week.

Coming into Week 3, the Colts and the Panthers are in different spots momentum-wise.

Marian was able to take care of business against Hanover in Week 1 — a Hawks team that pushed a good Riverside team to the brink in Week Two — and then the Colts were able to get a huge win over Tri-Valley last week, 17-14.

The Panthers lost a game to Salisbury in Week 1 where they battled the Falcons, but last week the No. 1-ranked Class 2A team in the state — Schuylkill Haven — was able to come away with a dominant win over PV.

The Colts have been finding success the old-fashioned way by running the football, and playing good defense. Marian’s front six of Rocco Griguoli, Jason Ashfield, Dominick Rodino, Billy Ebert, Jah Bushati and Damian Rodino have been fast and physical.

The Colts held a solid Tri-Valley rushing attack to 30 yards on 19 carries, and also forced three turnovers against the Bulldogs.

On the season, the Colts are giving up just 142.5 yards per game, and an impressive 28.5 rushing yards per contest.

Offensively, Marian is averaging 202 yards rushing per game, with running back Rory Dixon leading the way with 275 yards and four rushing scores.

“We have been extremely opportunistic so far this season. We have forced eight turnovers over the first two weeks, and we have been turning those opportunities into touchdowns,” said Marian head coach Billy O’Gurek. “We have been rock solid on the defensive end. Honestly, we’re very proud of our guys up front right now on both sides of the ball.

“We graduated 12 players from last season’s team, and seven of them started for us on either the offensive or defensive line. We still have work to do there because there were times last week where we struggled to run the ball, but we’re off to a good start.”

In Week 1, Panther Valley was able to move the ball, but it wasn’t able to finish off drives. Last week against Schuylkill Haven, PV wasn’t able to get much going on offense.

The Panthers’ passing attack is where they have been able to generate most of their offense. Dual-threat signal caller Brody Breiner has thrown for 179 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 40 rushing yards.

PV also has a nice trio of wide receivers with good length at the position in Gavin Yuricheck (72 receiving yards) Chase McArdle (75) and Ben Baneravage (34).

But both running the football and stopping the run have been a struggle for the Panthers. Panther Valley is averaging just 79 yards rushing per game, while it’s surrendering 268 yards per game on the ground, and the Panthers have just one touchdown through the first two games.

“We will obviously be focused on Dixon. A lot of their offense goes through him. And they like to get the ball to him in the passing game as well, so we will need to pay a lot of attention to him. But simply put, we have to tackle better. We need to fly to the ball and make plays,” said Panther Valley head coach Mark Lavine.

“We also need to finish drives and score points. Marian has been playing some really good defense. They’re very quick, and they fly to the ball. We need to just look to execute our stuff, and play with more confidence. We have guys that we feel can make plays in the passing game.”

After not playing for a couple of seasons, the Marian-Panther Valley matchup returned last season. It’s been a rivalry game staple in the Times News area for decades, and any time the two squads get together on the gridiron it’s a good thing for area football fans.

“It’s always entertaining when the Colts and the Panthers get together to face off with each other,” said O’Gurek. “We know they have some playmakers. We’re going to look to slow down Breiner. He’s at the forefront of what they want to do. We can’t let him extend plays, so getting pressure on him will be the key.

“They also have long and athletic receivers that could cause match-up issues. We’re once again just going to look to continue to play our brand of football and control the line of scrimmage.”