Pat Morgans knew it would take a lot to maintain the precedent set for Marian football by coaching legend, Stan Dakosty.

In his Colts' debut against Fairfield Friday night, Marian needed a mix of near everything to pull out a 19-13 win over the Knights, and get this new era off to a good start.Junior tailback Seth Paluck, sophomore quarterback Mason Miller, junior back Matt Doherty, several receivers, and strong play from the line highlighted the winners' offense in the victory. But the defense nearly outshone them all as it came up big when Marian's six-point lead was severely tested down the stretch."It means the world to me," Morgans said post-game. "It's not about me, it's about these kids and the effort they put out tonight. They fought until the end. Fairfield came in and showed they're a great team."Our defense bent but didn't break and there were a couple of close calls at the end, but they came up with the plays when they had to."Both sides showed some early-season rust in the game's opening minutes and the scoreboard remained empty throughout a majority of the first half. On their fourth possession of the contest, Miller found Paluck for an athletic reception for 20 yards and a Knight personal foul yielded a first down on the Knight 18. Doherty and Paluck both dashed for nine yards to put the hosts on the board first.Fairfield responded, and when 6-3 senior quarterback Darian Mort connected on a 40-yard pass to Joey Quealy, but the second frame clock ran out, helping the Colts out of a possible threat going into the break.In the third quarter, consecutive turnovers allowed Paluck to show his skill again, as he broke through the right side of the Knight line, broke two tackles and raced to the end zone for the 13-0 lead.The Knights answered with a 70-yard drive in seven plays to get on the board, as Mort found Quealy for a 15-yard score.Marian then took the ball 65 yards for another score, as Miller pounded his way in from the two for a 19-6 lead. Paluck's ground game accounted for 43 of those 65 yards on the scoring drive."I know I have some big shoes to fill," Paluck said. "But now I know I have the confidence in myself to do what I have to out there."Fairfield came back again with a score, as Nick Wheeler hauled in a 31-yard pass from Mort for the game's final points, as the clock showed just over six minutes left in the contest.From there, Marian took over three and a half minutes off the clock on its next drive, before the Knight defense produced a turnover on downs. However, the winners came up with the big plays, including a monster sack by senior Zack Falls to preserve the lead and the victory.WEEK ONE WOES ... Both teams showed their nerves, as Marian committed seven penalties, threw an interception, and coughed up the ball three times in the game, despite not losing possession on any. Meanwhile, Fairfield had 10 flags thrown its way, while losing one of two fumbles.SO MUCH 'MORT' ... Fairfield's signal-caller Darian Mort showed why Division 1 FCS schools are showing interest, including Villanova, as the talented senior displayed a wealth of skill, connecting on 14 of 20 pass attempts for 210 yards and two scores.STATISTICAL TOSS-UP ... Only four yards separated the two teams' total offense amounts as Fairfield's 340 bested Marian's 336. Both sides converted 17 first downs.