HOMETOWN — It didn’t matter which Marian player carried the ball out of the backfield in Friday night’s Anthracite League Football game against Schuylkill Haven at Men of Marian Stadium.
Chances were, the Colts’ offensive line opened a gaping hole.
Marian’s backs obliged, picking up a staggering 421 yards rushing en route to a 40-17 trouncing of the Hurricanes.
“Our line played absolutely phenomenal,” said Marian back K.J. Snerr, who finished with a game-high 264 yards
and two touchdowns on 20 carries. “I couldn’t have done it without our line. They played a huge role in our winning today. Give the credit to them.”
Snerr wasn’t the only one giving the line credit. Nick Sully piled on 80 yards and two scores on seven carries. Quarterback Ethan Kuczynski added 86 yards on 11 rushes, though 80 of those came on a run in the final minutes that led to the sophomore QB’s eventual 1-yard touchdown run.
“It’s all about the line,” Sully said. “The line showed up big for us this week. We couldn’t have done it without the line opening those holes for us.”
It was a pass, however, that got the game off to a thrilling start. On the first play from scrimmage, Kuczynski hit Aaron DeAngelo for a 65-yard touchdown pass to put the Colts (4-3, 3-3 AFL) ahead 6-0.
Schuylkill Haven (3-4, 2-4) countered when Will Casella ran 57 yards up the middle for a touchdown on the Hurricanes’ third play of the game.
Casella, who finished with a team-high 122 yards on 11 carries, added another score from 35 yards early in Haven’s next drive to give the Hurricanes a 14-6 lead with not 4 minutes played in the game.
That was when things changed. Marian’s defense buckled down and started packing the box. After his second touchdown run, Casella was held to 25 yards on eight carries.
Even Ryan Fink, who finished with 101 yards on 17 rushes for Haven, was held to short yardage all night with the exception of a 43-yard scamper in the second quarter, leading to a 23-yard field goal by Jason Trumbo.
Snerr ran in a 58-yard score untouched before halftime to give the Colts a 18-17 lead.
“Momentum was a huge factor in this game,” Sully said. “We’ve been down for three games now. We knew if we kept playing, played a little harder (in the second half), we had this game in the bag.”
The Colts did play harder in the second half and the game was soon in the bag.
Snerr and Sully reeled off third-quarter touchdown runs of 67 and 69 yards, respectively, to put Marian up 33-17.
The Schuylkill Haven offense was held to 45 rushing yards in the second half to 211 in the first.
“We started to tackle, it may sound funny, but we started to tackle,” Marian coach Stan Dakosty said. “They’re so quick to the hole, I think it caught us off guard. I really liked the adjustments we made at halftime, try to bring more guys to the box if we could.”
That forced Haven to the air, a tactic with which the Hurricanes are not comfortable. Quarterback Danny Lozada finished 3-for-18 passing for 45 yards.
“That was our goal,” Dakosty said. “Take them out of their comfort zone. They like to shorten the game, run the clock.”
Instead, it was the Colts who were shortening the game and running the clock on Schuylkill Haven.
“It felt good to give Haven their medicine right back to them,” Sully said. “It was a big factor in this game today and it felt good beating them at their own game.”
It couldn’t have come sooner for Marian, which had lost three straight before Friday’s contest. The Colts finish the season with three rivalry games — Mahanoy Area, Shenandoah Valley and Tamaqua — so Dakosty isn’t taking any win over Schuylkill Haven for granted.
“Haven’s Haven,” he said. “Usually we play them early but this had playoff implications obviously for districts. We got a long way to go and some tough teams on the road. But I’d rather be coming at it from this point in time.”
Game Summary
SH (3-4, 2-4) 14 3 0 0 — 17 Mar (4-3, 3-3) 6 12 15 7 — 40
Mar —DeAngelo 65 pass from Kuczynski (run failed)
SH —Casella 57 run (Trumbo kick)
SH —Casella 35 run (Trumbo kick)
Mar — Sully 1 run (run failed)
SH —FG Trumbo 23
Mar —Snerr 58 run (pass failed)
Mar —Snerr 67 run (DeAngelo pass from Kuczynski)
Mar —Sully 69 run (Busher kick)
Mar —Kuczynski 1 run (Busher kick)
SH Mar
First Downs 12 15
Rushes-Yards 35-270 42-421
Passes 3-18-0 3-8-0
Passing Yards 45 130
Total Yards 315 551
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties 6-35 6-57
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Schuylkill Haven — Casella 11-122, Fink 17-101, Lozada 5-38, Batz 1-8, Biever 1-1. Marian — Snerr 20-264, Kuczynski 11-86, Sully 7-80, Agosti 2-7, Goldberg 1-1, Team 1-(-17).
PASSING: Schuylkill Haven — Lozada 3-18-0, 45. Marian — Kuczynski 3-7-0, 130; Snerr 0-1-0, 0.
RECEIVING: Schuylkill Haven — Biever 2-40, Fink 1-5. Marian — Agosti 2-65, DeAngelo 1-65.
INTERCEPTIONS: None.