MAHANOY CITY— As ecstatic as Billy O’Gurek was following Marian’s 35-13 win over rival Mahanoy Area on Friday night for the Colts’ first 5-0 start since before his players were even born, he also sounded a cautionary tone.

Although the Colts were never in any real danger of losing to the Golden Bears for the second straight season, their head coach made sure his players understood that they will need to execute much better and play with more consistency as the meat of their schedule quickly approaches.

“It’s always good to be 5-0, but still have stuff to work on,” O’Gurek said. “”We just lack focus at times, which is probably partly (attributed to) the youth on our team. But when we execute, we’ve got some playmakers who can do some nice things.”

That, the Colts do.

Speedy senior Jake Tom accounted for 165 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, one on a 65-yard bomb from quarterback Gregory Tirpak and the other on a 53-yard dash on a “rugby play” with him in punt formation; Tirpak finished 7-of-9 passing for 169 yards; star junior Rory Dixon rushed for two first-half scores; and defensive back Dante Tate — one of Marian’s smallest players — came up big with two interceptions, returning the first 30 yards for a touchdown, to highlight the Colts’ latest win in their first five-game run to start a season since 2006.

“We’re very happy to be 5-0,” O’Gurek said.

Especially the way his team has come together despite losing several starters to graduation. The new Colts have picked up where their predecessors left off, making opponets pay for mistakes.

Tate’s picks were two of the winless Bears’ six turnovers, four directly or indirectly leading to Marian scores., as the young Colts often played on a much shorter field than the even younger Bears.

“We’re not going to beat anybody turning the ball over like that,” Mick Connolly, Mahanoy Area’s first-year head coach, said, after his team fell to 0-5, 0-4 in Colonial-Schuylkill League Division C play. “We keep finding ways to shoot ourselves in the foot each and every week. We’re getting better, but we’re also showing our age.”

Marian’s opening possession was its best offensive series all night, at least in terms of execution. Dixon twice pushed the pile for first downs and Tirpak floated swing passes to Rocco Griguoli and Tom for seven and 16 yards, respectively, to advance the ball to the Mahanoy Area 19. From there, Dixon ran for nine and eight yards, the latter into the end zone for the ninth time this season, tops among all area running backs. Tom kicked the first of his five extra points to give the Colts a 7-0 lead halfway through the first quarter.

Dixon totaled 30 yards on the ground in the opening drive, but finished with only 19 the rest of the way.

“No, no, we weren’t consistent enough,” O’Gurek said. “Even in our passing game, we flashed a little bit, but we still held the ball a little bit too long. If we clean those things up, I think we’ll have chance to be really good (offensively).”

After the teams swapped punts and ends of the field to start the second quarter, Marian’s Jah Bushati pounced on Bears fumble at the Mahanoy Area. A Tirpak-to-Griguoli hookup for nine yards put the Colts in point-blank range, leading to Dixon’s 10-yard TD run.

Three plays later, Tate found himself in the right place at the right time, taking an interception the other way for the Colts’ fifth defensive score of the season and a 21-0 lead for Marian.

Undeterred, the Bears answered with Kyler Quick’s 9-yard pop up the middle and a 28-yard pass from freshman quarterback JD Kowalchick to Damian Contreras to put the ball at the Marian 35. But on the next play, another fumble doomed Mahanoy Area, this recovered by the Colts’ Damian Rodino.

Tirpak went up top to Tom on the very next play, hitting Tom in stride and letting his receiver do the rest to complete the 65-yard scoring play.

“He’s a game-changer,” O’Gurek said of Tom. “His speed… Wow! We called that out-and-up, he got down there and Greg hit him perfectly.”

The Colts had a chance to add to their lead with time winding down before halftime when they recovered yet another Mahanoy Area fumble. But sacks of Tirpak by Stanley Boris and Quick on second down and Boris and John Redgate on third down knocked Marian back to the Bears 45. After Kowalchick batted Tirpak’s third-down pass away from Griguoli, Mahanoy Area defenders hog-tied Dixon just short of the goal line as the first half ended.

“They’re playing hard. …They’re not quitting. That’s the big thing,” Connolly said of his players. “These guys have some character and they have heart. That’s all you can ask for.”

The Colts’ only second-half score came after Tom dropped back to punt on fourth-and-17 early in the third quarter. Sensing free space around right end, he kept the ball and went untouched along the right sideline for his second touchdown on a “fake punt” this season, both really “rugby calls,” his coach said.

“He’s so quick and so sudden that when he gets on the edge, he’s able to pick it up and go,” O’Gurek said. “It’s good to have a kid like that on our side.”

The Bears doubled their season points total of six before Friday’s game with two touchdowns in the final quarter, the first on Quick’s 51-yard blast and the second when Contreras took a pitch 17 yards to paydirt.

“I liked the way we moved the ball,” said Connolly, whose team of mostly underclassmen rushed for 190 yards.

Many of those yards came in the fourth quarter, but the Bears’ offense also showed flickers of life earlier in the game.

“If you look at it, we were moving the ball at will, but then we’d turn the ball or we’d have a stupid penalty,” Connolly said. “Mental mistakes were killing us, and that’s on me.”

While Mahanoy Area is rebuilding, the Colts are building toward what they hope is a championship season To reach that point in the division, they’ll have to navigate a three-week stretch that starts with next Friday’s visit from Minersville and continues with consecutive games against state-ranked Schuylkill Haven and Williams Valley.

“We know we have a big game coming up,” O’Gurek said. “”We also know we have some things to work on. ..That’s 100% correct.”

Game Summary
Marian 35, Mahanoy Area 13

Marian (5-0, 4-0)………………7 21 7 0 — 35

Mahanoy Area (0-5, 0-4)……0 0 0 13 — 13

First Quarter

M — Dixon 8 run (Tom kick, 6:03

Second Quarter

M — Dixon 10 run (Tom kick), 9:40

M — Tate 30 interception return (Tom kick), 7:44

M — Tom 65 pass from Tirpak (Tom kick), 3:46

Third Quarter

M — Tom 53 run (Tom kick),9:22

Fourth Quarter

MA — Quick 51 run (run failed), 7:30

MA — Contreras 17 run (Redgate kick), 1:21

M MA

First Downs 10 9

Rushes-yards 30-88 28-190

Passing 7-9-0 2-5-2

Passing yards 169 36

Total yards 257 226

Penalties-yards 4-25 5-40

Fumbles-lost 2-1 6-4

Punts 2-36.5 2-24

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Marian — Tom 3-61, TD, Dixon 15-49, 2 TD, Koslop 2-5, Sartori 2-3, Grochowski 1-(-1), Tirpak 3-(-8). Mahanoy Area — Quick 13-115, TD, Contreras 4-33, TD, Stoyer 3-34, Kowalchick 3-10, Rucker 1-2, Team 4-(-4).

PASSING: Marian — Tirpak 7-9-0-169, TD. Mahanoy Area — Kowalchick 2-5-2-36, 0 TD.

RECEIVING: Marian — Tom 3-104, TD, Dixon 2-49, Griguoli 2-16. Mahanoy Area — Contreeras 1-28, Redgate 1-8

INTERCEPTIONS: Marian — Tate 2. Mahanoy Area — None.

 

Originally Published: September 20, 2025 at 2:10 AM EDT