HOMETOWN – Things can get down when a team starts a season 0-7 as Marian Catholic did this year.
But the Colts didn’t let that start get them down and on Thursday night, continued to be rewarded for their persistence as Marian scored on five of their first six possessions and finished their 2021 season with their fourth straight win, 39-8 over Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech.
“Four in a row and 95 percent of our players are coming back,” said Marian coach Stan Dokosty. “We’re excited about our future, we know we have to work hard now in the offseason. Tons of credit to our seniors for their leadership and I tip my hat to CMVT – they played hard the whole game.”
It was a pair of those seniors that got the Colts into the end zone in the first quarter and from there, the underclassmen took over to build the lead, eventually putting the game into the mercy rule early in the third quarter.
Senior Luis Teron got things started by first returning a punt 26 yards to the CMVT 45-yard line after the Rams had gone three-and-out on their opening drive. He then hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass on Marian’s first play from scrimmage to put the Colts up 6-0.
After the Rams were stopped on downs on their next drive at their own 44, the Colts needed just two plays to find the end zone again, this time on a 44-yard run by senior Jake Fenstermaker to go up 12-0 at the 6:11 mark in the first half.
“The first quarter, the big plays got us again. I thought we played well defensively but then we made a bit of a mistake and the big play gets us,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “I thought we battled all game and played a good second half. They kept their starters in for the third quarter and we played well again them. It’s just that one play here or there that hurts us when they get a big score.”
Those first two drives would follow a theme of the Colts running plays on CMVT’s side of the field. Marian started all but one of its drives in the game in Ram territory, and for the game, ran 33 of their 34 plays on the CMVT side of the 50. Their average starting field position was the CMVT 42-yard line.
Marian’s defense was also a big part of that, as they made the yards and holes upfront hard to come by for CMVT’s big bruising back, Toby Zajac. Although he ran for 103 yards on the evening, going over 1,000 for the season in the process, there weren’t many yards to gain early on.
“They did a great job of plugging the holes. Their four linebackers played very good football. We adjusted some things at halftime,” said Varner.
The Rams were also hurt by turnovers once again, as they committed four, and although they managed to take three away from the Colts, including two late in the first quarter, but they weren’t able to do anything with them.
The Colts had a punt go off the leg of a coverage man, which gave the Rams the ball at midfield. But they lost a fumble two plays later. Shane Tomlinson then picked off a pass inside his own 5-yard line, but the Rams were unable to get out of the shadow of their own end zone, and following a shanked punt, the Colts started at the CMVT 10. Matt Martin needed just one play to run it in the end zone for his first of two touchdowns on the evening to make it 18-0. The junior back finished with 98 rushing yards and also went over 1,000 for the season.
A 42-yard interception return by Matt Rehrig set up the Colts at the CMVT 20 and ended the Rams’ next drive. Marian converted a fourth-and-9 to extend the drive, with Joey Walko, another underclassman, finishing the drive with a two-yard touchdown run to make it 24-0.
Teron put together another outstanding punt return to follow CMVT’s ensuing drive, this time going for 29 yards all the way back to the CMVT 29. Teron finished the night with an even 100 all-purpose yards to go with an interception in his final game for the Colts.
From there, the Colts needed just two plays to again find the end zone, as sophomore Bruce Hopeck found freshman Michael Gelatko for a 24-yard touchdown pass to put Marian up 31-0.
Another single-play drive to open the second half – the only play of the game run from their own side of the field – produced another touchdown for the Colts, this one Martin’s second score, a 53-yard run down the right sideline, which put the game into the mercy rule.
“I’m really excited about the future of the program and what we have here,” said Dakosty. “I give a ton of credit to the seniors for staying with us through the tough times. We’ve got some players that can play, so we just have to work in the offseason now.”
But CMVT continued to battle, and that produced a positive finish to a tough season for the Rams. Down 39-0 after the Colts put the game into the mercy rule with an early score in the third quarter, CMVT stopped Marian on fourth down and took over at their own 30-yard line. And just as they have in nearly every game this year, they put together a long scoring drive, both in yards and time, as they went 70 yards in 11 plays to get on the scoreboard.
“These kids played hard all year for me and did exactly what I’ve asked,” said Varner. “They’ve come out in a lot of games being outmanned size-wise and number-wise, but they keep battling and as long as they keep battling, we’re going to keep moving forward and the wins will come.”
That drive featured 51 yards by Zajac, and was punctuated by Caden Long’s first career touchdown, as he made the most out of a broken play and broke loose for a 20-yard run, diving for the pylon and just getting it in. Braxtyn Brown, a freshman running back who played mostly in the defensive backfield but showed flashes offensively this year, ran in the two-point conversion.
“Toby has run the ball well all year. He’s run the ball hard all year and I’m very happy for him to get the 1,000 yards and for the linemen to get the 1,000 yards for him, and I’m so happy for Caden to score the first touchdown of his career,” said Varner.
Marian Catholic 39, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 8
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (0-9) 0 0 0 8 – 8
Marian Catholic (4-7) 12 19 8 0 – 39
First-quarter
9:20 – (MC) Luis Teron 45-yard pass from Andrew Baran (kick failed), 1-45, :16
6:11 – (MC) Jake Fenstermaker 44-yard run (kick blocked), 2-44, 1:00
Second-quarter
10:55 – (MC) Matt Martin 10-yard run (pass failed), 1-10, :08
7:33 – (MC) Joey Walko 2-yard run (kick blocked), 6-20, 2:19
3:38 – (MC) Michael Gelatko 24-yard pass from Bruce Hopeck (Kash kick), 2-29, :52
Third-quarter
11:35 – (MC) Matt Martin 53-yard run (Walko run), 1-53, :18
Fourth-quarter
:23 – (VT) Caden Long 20-yard run (Brown run), 11-70, 7:19
Statistics
VT MC
First downs 7 11
Rushes-net yards 44-116 27-160
Passing yardage 12 79
Passing 2-6-0-2 3-7-2-1
Fumbles-lost 5-2 3-2
Penalties-yards 5-30 5-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CMVT: Toby Zajac (32-103), Dante DiAgostino (6-5), Caden Long (4-8-1), Shane Tomlinson (1-4), Mason Haught (1-(-4)); Marian Catholic: Matt Martin (11-98-2), Angelo Greek (3-15), Matt Rehrig (3-8), Jake Fenstermaker (2-43-1), Joey Walko (2-7-1), Dylan Zullo (2-(-5)), Bruce Hopeck (1-5), Jayden Fermin (1-3), Andrew Baran (1-(-5)), Dylan Rodino (1-(-9)),
PASSING — CMVT: Caden Long (2-5-12-0-1) Toby Zajac (0-1-0-0-1); Marian Catholic: Andrew Baran (2-4-55-1-1), Bruce Hopeck (1-1-24-1-0), Dylan Rodino (0-1-0-0-0), TEAM (0-1-0-0-0)
RECEIVING — CMVT: Tommy Bond (1-8), Shane Tomlinson (1-4); Marian Catholic: Luis Teron (1-45-1), Michael Gelatko (1-24-1), Joey Walko (1-10)
