Dixon, Colts run past Panther Valley
Panther Valley quarterback Brody Breiner looks to pass during Thursday's Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division game at Marian. (Photo by Eli Doyle)
HOMETOWN — Marian’s offensive game plan was simple Thursday night.
Keeping feeding the ball to tailback Rory Dixon and let him run behind his big offensive line.
Dixon and the Colts executed that game plan to perfection as the sophomore workhorse rushed 31 times for 176 yards and three touchdowns as Marian blanked Panther Valley 27-0 in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division game at Stan Dakosty Field at Men of Marian Stadium.
Dixon scored on runs of 3, 5 and 14 yards as Marian (2-1, 1-1 Blue) rebounded from last week’s loss at Tri-Valley with a win over the backyard rival Panthers (0-3, 0-2).
“He’s our workhorse,” Marian coach Billy O’Gurek said of Dixon. “We go into games knowing that’s how we want to establish our offense and we know we have a guy back there who can do it.
“The next step in his game is to be able to break a couple of more. He’s only a sophomore and he’s only going to get better, but he’s pretty good right now.”
A 5-foot-10, 170-pounder, Dixon entered Thursday night as the area’s rushing leader with 283 yards on 41 carries and did a good job of padding those numbers against the Panthers.
Dixon carried 19 times for 128 yards in the first half, overcoming a fumble on Marian’s first drive by capping a seven-play, 67-yard march with a 3-yard TD run late in the first quarter. All seven plays in the drive were carries by Dixon.
His longest run of the night, a 21-yarder midway through the second quarter, set up Michael Gelatko’s 3-yard TD run that gave Marian a 13-0 halftime lead.
“It’s just getting it and grinding. My goal every time I run the ball is don’t go backwards, get positive yardage,” Dixon said. “If I see something, I’m going to try and crack it. Whatever my line gives me, I’m going to take.
“Our offensive line, they just kept blowing them off the ball. They were like a machine. They didn’t get tired, they didn’t stop, they just kept going and going. Without my line, I’m not going anywhere. I give all the credit to my line.”
The Colts dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, despite starting offensive lineman Zach Holt being sidelined by a knee injury. The quintet of Aidan Milkovits, Julian Hermany, Mason Soult, Connor Rehnert and Sam Turrano helped Marian rush for 205 yards on the night.
“Our guys are tough up there,” O’Gurek said. “Those guys did real well. They established the line of scrimmage early on and they held onto it.”
Panther Valley struggled to move the ball all night long. With top tailback Brennan Kunkel out with a knee injury, the Panthers relied on quarterback Brody Breiner to do most of the ballcarrying.
After gaining 15 yards on his first two carries, however, Breiner suffered an ankle injury that slowed him the rest of the night. When fullback Marcus Rodriguez also got banged up, it forced Panther Valley coach Mark Lavine to shuffle players around in the backfield, with tight end Logan Fisher eventually playing fullback.
Prior to a 49-yard run by freshman running back Troy Nunez in the final minutes of the game, Panther Valley had rushed for just 29 yards and compiled only 57 yards of total offense.
“We did some things well on that first drive. After that their line took over,” Lavine said. “Their defensive line and linebackers took over and we didn’t have any answers at all. They whooped us up front.
“We don’t have a lot of skilled kids. We’re moving kids around. It’s a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul with that, and you lose out some place else with that.
“That’s something we have to figure out. If we have to go young in some of those positions, we’ll have to do that. Yeah, we’re a little banged up.”
Panther Valley’s inability to move the ball in the second half gave Marian a big edge in field position, and the Colts took advantage.
Marian added a pair of touchdowns on drives that started at the Panther Valley 22 and PV 29-yard line in the third quarter to ice the victory. Dixon gained all 22 on the first drive, scoring from 5 yards out. After a quick three-and-out and a 21-yard punt return by Charlie Hower, Dixon scored four plays later from 14 yards out to make it 27-0.
The contest was the first meeting between the teams since 2021. Marian now leads the all-time series, which began in 1964, by a 33-22-1 margin.
“This is a big rivalry game for us, so it meant something. To beat a team that we hadn’t played in three years …,” Dixon said. “I’ve been the water boy here for a couple of years, so I know the rivalry that comes with Marian and PV. I was so excited to play tonight.”
