At the end of the season it's always important to be playing your best football. That's especially paramount if you're a football team that is destined for the postseason.

That's exactly the case for the Marian Colts. The Colts (7-3) finished the 2014 regular season on a high note, defeating Anthracite Football League rival Tamaqua on Friday by a score of 27-8. Marian's win ensures it that it will get a home playoff game in the District 11 A playoffs.The Colts started fast and they did it with the big play. On their first possession back-to-back first down runs setup a 20-yard touchdown hookup between Ethan Kuczynski and wide receiver Angelo Maskornick.Tamaqua (5-5) turnovers also setup the Colts throughout the night and the Raiders had a costly one early on. On the Raiders first possession, they generated a 16-play drive, but it was all for not after a fumble on the center-quarterback exchange, turning the ball over on downs to the Colts. On their next possession they fumbled again, setting up another Colts score. In all, the Raiders fumbled six times, losing two of them, and also had an interception."Turnovers have killed us the last few weeks and it was the same story this week," said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. "Those are the kind-of mistakes you can't make if you want to win football games. We did a good job of sustaining drives, we just didn't finish them and then we also gave up the big play as well. When you turn the ball over and give up the big play, you're not going to come out on top."On the Colts second possession it was the big play that got them six once again. Seven plays into their second drive KJ Snerr raced around the edge untouched for a 37-yard score to up the Marian advantage to 14-0. Then it was Kuczynski's turn to contribute once again on the Colts third possession as he hit tight end Aaron DeAngelo for a 20-yard strike to give Marian a 21-0 lead heading into the half."We saw some things earlier this week in film that we thought we could take advantage of and we executed out there on the field," said Marian coach Stan Dakosty. "We had a great week of practice, our kids worked really hard, and I want to also give my coaching staff a lot of credit. They had our guys extremely prepared for a good Tamaqua team tonight."Tamaqua controlled most of third quarter, but once again couldn't finish off its drives with scores. The Raiders finally punched one in the end zone in the fourth quarter on a "Bud" Moyer four-yard run. Moyer carried the ball seven times for 34 yards on the drive and brought Tamaqua within 14. It was just a little too late for the Raiders and the Colts put the game away later in the quarter after an Ernie Shilko interception. Aaron DeAngelo was "Johnny on the spot" once again, intercepting the Shilko pass around the Tamaqua 18-yard line and returning it to the six. Marian fullback Nick Sully would later score on a one-yard plunge to seal the deal."We just all really believe in each other, we rely on each other," said DeAngelo, who had a touchdown catch, fumble recovery, and interception on the night. "When we lost three in a row, we didn't panic. We banded together, worked harder and that's why we're in the position we are in now.Marian's "work colt" back KJ Snerr was solid once again rushing for 157 yards and a touchdown on the night.As noted, with the win Marian will now host a home playoff game next Friday night."This is a real exciting time for our football team right now," said Dakosty. "It's been awhile since we've had a home district playoff game here and we're all very excited about the opportunity to play for a district championship."