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).

You never know what twists and turns one may take.

Heck, to look at last Friday’s Marian-Minersville football game, it still has a baffling take. Two teams that had different courses, one on the high road, the other just trying to figure where it was headed.

Marian got stung the previous week, falling to Mahanoy Area on Homecoming Saturday.

Minersville was in a shootout against Schuylkill Haven. There were a total of 122 points scored; 52 by the losing team, Minersville.

A week later, Marian did some soul searching, came back and found a way to win on the road and crash Minersville’s Homecoming party, needing an overtime and a huge defensive stop for a 20-14 victory.

Jeez, was this really happening to a Minersville team that seemed to be able to let it fly from any part of the field. Then again, we’re dealing with the unpredictable.

It was a defining moment for first-year Marian coach Billy O’Gurek. He and his staff put together an ideal game plan – play defense with your offense. It was brilliant in the end. It milked the clock, slowly, patiently and never deviated from the approach.

O’Gurek said afterward he felt his team has a shot.

“If we were going to win, I told our guys that we would have to limit them to (offensive) plays,” O’Gurek said.

Surely, the key was getting first downs and limit Dante Carr, the terrific Minersville high-profile quarterback, to as few possessions as possible. This was a game that had the fever of a smack-down. Yet, the entire key goes to a banged up, dinged Marian offensive line. It had 12 players watching from the sidelines. It would lose another offensive lineman, Sam Turrano, to injury during the game.

Ah, but veteran mainstay Charles “Chink” Connely, the Marian offensive line coach, figured a way to get his short-handed team ready to execute the approach. Nothing fancy, stay in front of your man, keep your balance, drive block and let superb running back Rory Dixon pick his hole. The sophomore had a career-like evening in terms of carries (33), including the final two in overtime for a touchdown, a 2-yard sprint to paydirt.

“We had to naturalize their offense and that meant keeping the ball away from (Carr), limit him to snaps,” O’Gurek said.

Too which, O’Gurek said, “Tiger, Tiger.”

“We put two fullbacks in the (backfield) to create a bubble against the defensive line and give (Dixon) some good angles to run (through),” O’Gurek continued.

And there is the genius of Connely. The “Big Cat” has been around for so many eclipses he came up with a master approach. Wham it against the Miners and see what happens. The rugged Miners had but two offensive series in the third quarter and three in the fourth quarter.

Then in the overtime, Marian got the first possession, ramrodded right through the belly of the Minersville defense and scored in two very sharply executed plays to soar on top for the final time. The Miners not only lost the game, but had three key players, including Carr, suffer injuries during the game.

Now, Minersville gimps in to Pine Grove Friday evening. It still has enough horses to matchup with the Cardinals, which has one win thus far over winless Shenandoah Valley. Then again, nothing should be taken for granted.

It showed up last week, proving there are few things that are a sure thing.

Here we go

Are we truly in the home stretch of the high school football season? There hasn’t even been frost on the pumpkin.

The District 11 Class 4A race is a bit murky. Southern Lehigh is No. 1, while Blue Mountain is No. 2 at 5-1. The Eagles will be a strong favorite at Lehighton this weekend before a challenging three-game chase to the finish line: home with North Schuylkill and Pottsville before the season finale at Tamaqua.

The two Cathedrals in the Lehigh Valley, Bethlehem and Allentown Central Catholic, log in at third and fourth, but the former is at unbeaten Freedom (6-0), while the latter will be heavy favorite to dust up 2-4 William Allen.

The chase in Class 2A seems clear cut for the juggernaut Schuylkill Haven, for its lone loss a close one 19-14 to Blue Mountain. Its next challenger doesn’t come until Week 9 against visiting Nativity. Book it, the Hurricanes will be dripping with gold around their neckties.

However, the outside horse in this watch-and-see race goes to Williams Valley. This is not an also-ran, the Vikings gave the ‘Canes a run to the finish line, and will finish with a 9-1 record. Get to a casino and bet a super matchup is in the offing for Haven and Williams Valley.

A very young Northern Lehigh sits in third place, unknown Executive Education is flittering at fourth and Catasauqua fifth. Minersville is one step behind Pen Argyl.

Keep an eye on this one

The race that is going to draw the most local interest is the District 2/11 Class A subregional.

Nativity is trailing a very good Lackawanna Trail at 5-1, the same as the Green Wave. Tri-Valley is third at 4-2, Old Forge 3-3 and Marian 4-2 with Holy Cross in sixth place 3-3.

The Lions are very powerful football team. They bashed a pair of traditional powers: Berwick 35-0 and Dunmore 28-7, thus they are the favorites to tangle with Nativity for a state playoff berth come next month. They have Carbondale and Susquehanna before finishing at Holy Cross and home with Riverside.

The Green Wave have weapons to compete with any team, even Lackawanna Trail. They can’t look beyond Mahanoy Area and a trip to Minersville in two weeks. Nativity will get a toughie at Haven in Week 9 and the Holy War with rival Marian in Saint Clair the regular-season finale.