The Overtime column has featured stories on a coach’s first win a number of times over the years.

But none of them have been quite like this week’s “first win” column.

On Friday night, Marian defeated Shenandoah for its first football victory of the season.

Stan Dakosty has been on the sidelines for plenty of victories during an illustrious head coaching career at Marian that includes conference, district and state championships.

But after retiring from the high school coaching ranks in 2016, Dakosty returned this season for his second stint at the helm of the Colts.

This week’s Overtime column will share Dakosty’s thoughts following the victory.

In addition, Rod Heckman will once again dive into the numbers from the Week 3 games, and share some interesting information on Northern Lehigh’s offense and defense, Marian’s field goal kicker and Palmerton’s quarterback.

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It had been exactly 1,421 days since Stan Dakosty last won a football game. His last win as a head coach had come on Nov. 4, 2016 in the District 11 Class 1A semifinals against Tri-Valley.

But after a three-year coaching retirement, coupled with a three-week wait to start this season, Dakosty found himself in a situation he grew very familiar with during his initial 40-year run as Marian’s head coach - celebrating a victory.

Marian’s 24/7 win over Shenandoah last Friday night was the 310th of Dakosty’s head coaching career. But it felt just as special and as memorable as his first win.

That’s because in a way, it was.

Dakosty is back leading a Colt program that was on the verge of extinction. Marian had to forfeit its final two games of the 2019 season due to a lack of players.

With just 16 healthy bodies on the sideline for the Colts’ final game a year ago, Dakosty returned to try to pump some life back into the program. He succeeded, as the number of players to open the season was more than double the number that finished the previous season.

But the next step was going to be even harder; Dakosty needed to find a way to get a team that was loaded with underclassmen and first-year players to play winning football.

Last Friday, they did just that.

“It was great to see how our kids responded to the win, and how much they enjoyed it,” said Dakosty. “As a coach, that never gets old. Whether it’s your first win or your 300th, the joy you feel for your players is something that’s really special.

“I know how much time and effort they put in to get themselves in a position to win that game on Friday night. I’m really happy for our kids, and for our program.

Dakosty said that as a coach, the mindset is a little different from that of a player.

“You celebrate the victory with the team, and you feel great about what they accomplished, but just as quickly you’re already thinking about what’s coming up next and what you can do better,” Dakosty said. “But I do really like the progress and improvement we’ve shown the last two weeks.

“I thought we played a really nice second half against Panther Valley, and then built on that against Shenandoah.”

Although Friday’s victory over the Blue Devils is officially the first for the Colts during the second edition of the “Dakosty era,” the veteran coach sees it differently.

“That might have been our first win on the field, but as far as I’m concerned, we already had a win,” Dakosty said. “The fact that we have 38 kids on the roster and are playing games was definitely our first win, and our biggest win.”

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OFFENSE & DEFENSE ... In Northern Lehigh’s season opener last Friday, the Bulldogs received long touchdowns from both their offense and defense.

Mike Repsher reached the end zone on a 60-yard run, while Brett Misera scooped up a fumble and returned it 62 yards for a score.

Over the past 25 years - a span of 286 games - this was just the third time Northern Lehigh had an offensive and defensive TD of at least 60 yards in the same contest.

The other times were Oct. 14, 2016 (Damion Rodriguez 70-yard TD catch and Austin Hemingway 62-yard interception return) and Oct. 10, 2009 (Cody Remaley 74-yard run and Jake Kern 81-yard pick-six).

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RECORD-TYING FIELD GOAL ... Marian’s new kicker this season, Mike Baloga, made his mark in a big way last Friday when he connected for a 47-yard field goal during a win against Shenandoah Valley.

The three-pointer is tied for the longest one in Times News area history.

Baloga matched the 47-yarder made by Northwestern’s Hunter Miller on Oct. 13, 2017 against Southern Lehigh.

Since 1989, there have been 274 field goals made by area kickers. Of those, including Baloga’s, 11 have been made from 40-or-more yards. Beside Baloga and Miller, Marian’s Lucca Stroia and Pleasant Valley’s Dean Krcic have both made two, while Pleasant Valley’s Justin Kashner, Ryan Habick and Trevor Micklos, along with Northwestern’s Tom Caamano and Brandon Miller each have hit one.

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EARLY THREE-POINT LEAD ... Speaking of Baloga’s 47-yard field goal, that kick opened the game’s scoring, allowing the Colts to take a 3-0 advantage against Shenandoah.

The last time Marian opened the game’s scoring with a field goal was Oct. 15, 2010 when Paul Martin nailed a 23-yarder to give his team a 3-0 start against Minersville.

Unfortunately for the Colts, they lost that game by a 28-17 score.

Beside Baloga and Martin, there have been six other area kickers to give their team a 3-0 lead over the past 10 years. They include Lehighton’s Tegan Durishin (2014) and Jacen Nalesnik (2012), Northwestern’s Andrew Deutsch (2010) and Hunter Miller (2017), Palmerton’s Rich Roselli (2014) and Panther Valley’s Mark Williams (2013).

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FOUR SCORE AND ONE ... Palmerton’s Cole Serfass had quite a 2020 debut last Friday, running for four touchdowns while also throwing for a score.

While an area player has scored four touchdowns in a game 126 times since 1993, this marked only the fifth time that a player has scored at least four TDs and thrown a scoring pass in the same game.

The others to accomplish the feat were Palmerton’s Tekoah Guedes (twice in 2017), Panther Valley’s Jared Reitz (in 2006) and Pleasant Valley’s Chris Haffner (in 2003).