The sounds were unmistakable.

They’ve also become quite familiar.

As the door swung open, cheers filled the air and Pat Morgans emerged with a smile, just like he has the past three weeks.

Marian grabbed its fourth straight win with a gritty 28-25 triumph over Mahanoy Area on Friday night.

“This is really big,” Morgans said coming out of a joyous locker room. “This was huge. Getting the fourth win here, and every victory is big. We’ll take them one at a time.”

It wasn’t easy.

The Colts (4-5) trailed 18-7 with just over five minutes remaining in the second quarter before putting together a 72-yard drive that ended with Dakota Streisel taking a pitch before finding Keith McCall in the end zone for a 26-yard score to make it 18-14 at halftime.

“They executed the play, and that’s important,” said Morgans. “We tell them, the game is all about making plays; making tackles, making catches, making passes, whatever the case may be, when you’re asked to do something, you gotta do it, and Dakota made the play, Keith made the catch, and it was a huge play. Give them credit for great execution, and they also gave him time to throw the ball. It was a total team effort.”

Marian’s defense pressured quarterback Danney Lawrence on Mahanoy’s (4-5) first possession of the third quarter, and Mason Miller came away with an improbable interception that he took 38 yards for a score to give the Colts a 21-18 lead.

“I see Dylan (Seibert) come and smack the ball up in the air, and I’m like, ‘Oh wow,’” said Miller. “I jumped up and got it. And as I was running, I felt someone hit me, and thought I was going to go down. But I stayed up, and I never ran faster in my entire life to get that touchdown. It was nice.”

Marian forced a three-and-out on the Golden Bears’ ensuing possession and responded with an 83-yard drive that started at its own 17-yardline with 8:18 remaining in the third quarter, and ended when Matt Doherty went in from the 1 with 11:03 to play in the fourth to up the Colts’ lead to 28-18.

“I think we only ran five plays in the third quarter because they had the ball for that really long drive,” said Mahanoy head coach Dave Holman. “Obviously, the No. 1 thing is you don’t have the ball. And we were running the ball very successfully tonight.”

The Golden Bears finished with 381 yards of total offense – all on the ground.

But Marian countered with Doherty, who finished with 175 yards rushing on 26 carries, including a 65-yard score to give the Colts a 7-6 lead in the first quarter.

“I can’t say enough about our team,” said Doherty. “Our linemen kept going, and going, and going. I give all the credit to them. They’ve been working so hard. I’m just so proud of them.”

Doherty also added two catches for 60 yards, in addition to being named Homecoming King at halftime.

“Matt is a great, back, he’s a great kid,” said Morgans. “What a night. Homecoming King. But obviously he’s our workhorse. He picked up the slack with Seth (Paluck) being out, and he comes in and plays both ways, he plays hard, and he gives 100 percent every play. He never takes a play off. I give Matt a lot of credit for being such a warrior. He really is.”

Danny Lawrence and Tyler Clewell both rushed for over 100 yards and scored twice for Mahanoy.

Clewell’s second touchdown was a three-yard score with 6:57 to play in the fourth to cut Marian’s lead to 28-25.

The Colts punted on their ensuing drive and gave the Golden Bears one more shot. But Mahanoy was stopped on fourth-and-nine near midfield and Marian took over with 2:22 to play.

“I told these kids back in Week 3, this is about us,” said Morgans. “We’ve got to continue to improve every week, get better each week, and hopefully we’re peaking when we get to the playoffs. So that’s what our goal is, so we just have to continue to improve.”

NEXT

… Marian finishes the season at home against Tamaqua, which suffered its first loss of the season Friday night to Jim Thorpe.