Marian stuns Minersville in overtime
Marian's Rory Dixon plows into the end zone for a touchdown in Friday's 20-14, overtime win over Minersville (Photo by Kelly Wiley).
MINERSVILLE – The man asked: “Who would have thought it?” … Not even God was the answer.
Marian’s football team sent thunder through the air here Friday, pulling off the season’s biggest upset of Week 6 with a 20-14, overtime victory over the host Miners at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
It gave first-year coach Billy O’Gurek a signature win as well. Consider where the Colts came from to get this huge win … They lost to heavy underdog Mahanoy Area just six days ago, had 12 players injured and not dressed for the game and saw another player go down in the overtime.
This way this thing transpired is still perplexing.
Marian (4-2, 3-2 Blue) had a chance to win it in regulation, but botched a fourth-and-goal at the half-yard line with an offsides call. Less than a minute later, Sam Turrano gobbled up a Minersville fumble at the Miners’ 48 and the Colts proceeded to drive deep into Minersville territory only to get stymied again.
“I’ll tell you, the players bailed me out,” O’Gurek said.
With the game tied 14-14 after regulation, Marian took the lead with sophomore running back Rory Dixon bounced into the end zone on a second-down, 2-yard run.
Minersville was flagged for a penalty on the conversion try and the ball was a yard-and-half away from the goal line. Instead of kicking, the Colts tried going for the deuce but to no avail.
Yet the outcome still was in doubt since Minersville (3-3, 2-3 Blue) had its chance to tie or win it.
Quarterback Dante Carr gave his team a big boost on first down with a four-yard run. He added two more yards on second down, but when he tried rolling out to his right on third down, Charlie Hower was standing tall for Marian, twisting Carr to the ground for a 5-yard loss. The play sent Carr to the sideline with an injury and a fourth-down pass attempt went incomplete, giving Marian the victory.
“I thought we had a shot,” O’Gurek said when asked about the outcome. “We lost three guys on the offensive line. I told our guys that we were going to have to play clean and control the clock.”
Indeed it was clean and the game plan worked to perfection.
Marian controlled the line of scrimmage from end to end, running off 62 plays — 33 in the first half — thus limiting Minersville to a grand total of 44 offensive plays, 19 in the first half.
The game plan found Marian milking the clock from its first possession. The Colts took the first half kick, held the ball for nearly 5 minutes.
When Marian got its paws on the pigskin for the second time, it was a mission time. It was Dixon (33-143) who started to get his legs churning leading Marian to its first touchdown, pile driving from 1-yard out to complete the 13-play, 80-yard drive with Jah Bushati adding the kick. Marian’s time of possession was nearly seven minutes with the touchdown coming in the second quarter.
Unfazed, Minersville answered with an eight-play, 61-yard drive, as Logan Rizzardi led the way with runs of 3, 45 and 9 yards before Carr found his favorite pass catcher Paiten LaPoint for a 6-yard TD and Jordan Bowers tied it with the PAT kick.
Marian answered with maybe its most prolific drive of the season thus far. With 5:56 to play in the half, the Colts were grinding, going on a 54-yard march. Rejuvenated senior quarterback Dylan Rodino led the way with a pair of big completions in the drive. He was nearly flawless through out the game.
Rodino’s pass to Michael Gelatko got put the Colts in grand position and Marian seized a 14-7 halftime lead after Dixon dove into the end zone from the 2-yard line for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Miners got their attack in high gear to open the second half, putting together an eight-play, 61-yard march to the end zone. Carr found Matt Dube with a nifty 9-yard touchdown pass before Bowers got the equalizer on the PAT.
Other than the standout defensive play by the Miners to keep Marian out of the end zone as regulation came to a close, neither team could make a big play to take command.
“When we didn’t get that touchdown, I felt that we had to play harder,” Marian’s Tyler Price said.
Aiden Milkovits said that the team had to make plays especially after coming up short in regulation.
“Oh, we never lost our confidence, we just had to continue to make plays,” the 6-foot-1, 265-pound two-way senior saud.
For sure, the entire team made plays all night long. Even if Divine Intervention was not in the play book, which no one really thought it could happen from the start.
QUOTABLE … “He’s a great player… great player, I don’t think we’re going to play against a quarterback like him for a long time,” O’Gurek said of Carr’s talents.
DEFENDING … The key was the way Marian’s secondary played from start to finish. In addition to Price, Hunter Sartori and Mike Johnson were ever so present in the secondary.
A DO-IT-ALL … Carr rushed for 90 yards on nine carries, and picked off a pass late in the game to sustain Minersville’s hopes of winning. Teammate A.J. Halford was dynamite for the Miners on both sides of the ball. His name kept echoing over the loudspeaker making tackles.
AMBULANCE DUTY … It was a physical game that had four players go down, as the ambulance crews had to cart away players twice.
