The Marian offense had a near perfect start.

But it was a stop by the Colt defense that stole the show.Marian scored on three of four first half possessions to build a commanding lead and cruised to a 35-12 victory over Williams Valley on Friday night.But as good as the Colt offense played, it was a goal line stand by the Marian defense that might have been the biggest factor in its District 11 Class A semifinal victory."We had three chances from the half yard line and couldn't punch it in," said Williams Valley coach Tim Savage. "It was a great stand by their defense and it seemed to propel them."It was a huge emotional turnaround in the game."The series Savage was referring to came after Marian marched 55 yards for a touchdown on its first possession of the game. A 33-yard run by K.J. Snerr started the drive and a seven-yard pass from Ethan Kuczynski to Aaron DeAngelo capped it.But immediately following the Colt score, the Vikings appeared to take the momentum back when Dylan Rabuck returned the kickoff all the way to the Marian five.Matt Miller, who had 201 rushing yards on the night, took a first down carry to the one. But three consecutive running plays failed to produce the score."When you get down there in that situation its all guts and desire," said Marian coach Stan Dakosty. "Our kids got low and made the stops."We actually had two great stands in the first half … the way our offense was playing that allowed us to build a pretty comfortable halftime lead."In addition to the first stop at the one-yard line, Marian's defense also stopped Williams Valley at the four and 17-yard lines in the opening half.Meanwhile, Marian got a 37-yard run by Nico Agosti and a 10-yaard pass from Snerr to Angelo Maskornick to stretch its advantage to 21-0 at the break."We changed our blocking pattern from the first time we played them," said Dakosty about the differences from an 18-6 Colt victory in the season opener, a game that went into the fourth quarter with a 6-0 score. "I think that helped us deal with the eight and nine men they were putting in the box."But we're also a better football team now. Tonight, we were able to score early and take control."If there was any doubt about the outcome, Marian (8-3) quickly erased it with a time-consuming 10-play drive early in third quarter. The march took over five minutes off the clock and ended with a Kuczynski to Agosti 10-yard TD pass that made it 28-0."I was very pleased with how we played tonight," said Dakosty. "Williams Valley is a good football team. "The Vikings finally got on the board late in the third quarter. The teams then exchanged fourth quarter scores.Marian had plenty of standouts as Kuczynski completed 7 of 10 passes for a pair of touchdowns; Snerr ran for 151 yards and a score and also tossed a TD pass; and Agosti ran for a TD and caught a touchdown pass."The line blocked well, I have great receivers, and with K.J. (Snerr) running like he did, it really helps set up the pass," said Kuczynski about a potent Colts attack that produced touchdowns on five of its first seven possessions and racked up over 300 yards in offense.The victory sends Marian into the District 11 championship game against the winner of today's Mahanoy Area-Pius X game."We are excited to be playing for a championship next week," said Dakosty, whose team has now five straight games. "Our kids have worked hard to earn this opportunity."