On a night when the Marian seniors were taking their last bows, sophomore Rory Dixon was in the spotlight.

The feisty, tough running back delivered early, and late, at Men of Marian Stadium on Stan Dakosty Field. Dixon scored three touchdowns on runs of 6, 14 and 2 yards, tallying 138 yards on 28 carries. He also went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season, and 2,000 for his career, as the Colts broke free from a determined, youthful Pine Grove team to lace up a 34-7 victory,

The outcome was surely deceiving.

The Cardinals (1-8) trailed only 13-7 at intermission, and still were hanging around, pestering the home club until a barrage of 21 fourth quarter points set Marian (4-5) free from a possible upset on the ninth weekend of the season, with one game to play for both teams.

The win keeps Marian’s postseason, District 11 Class 1A playoff hopes alive, but it will have to find a way to tag Nativity with a loss. The Green Wave are sitting in the two spot, the Colts are hanging in at the fifth spot but need to move into the top four to qualify. Nativity has already clinched a berth.

As for the Colts final home game, they roared down the field on their first possession. Pine Grove opted out of taking the opening kick, and then watched Marian churn out a 10-play drive to hit the end zone. Marian tight end and Division I recruit Mike Gelatko was the focal point in the drive, even though Dixon carried the payload down to the Pine Grove 21. Senior quarterback Dylan Rodino hit Gelatko with a 21-yard pass for a touchdown, and had also found the tight end for a 23-yard gain early in the drive.

The Rodino-to-Gelatko combo enabled the Colts to take a 6-0 lead. Things were positive for Marian, and on its second try, it belched out another 10-play drive, as Dixon’s number kept getting the call. The elusive tailback responded with 7 carries in the march, finally charging into the end zone on a 6-yard touchdown run. Jah Bushati booted the PAT.

“We had a great start, then we throw the pick-six,” said Billy O’Gurek, the first-year Marian coach. “I thought our tempo was good. We did some nice things with the run, and what can you say about Rory. … He is such a great back and he finds a way to bounce out of trouble.”

But troubles were brewing for Marian on this frosty night, when Pine Grove dug in and relied on its defense to score its only touchdown. Logan Troup, a sophomore and the heart of the Pine Grove running attack, turned in a defensive gem. He was in the right spot, picking off a pass flung by freshman Gregory Tirpak. Troup read the play, stepped in, latched onto the pass and sailed down the sideline for a 45-touchdown run with 28 seconds to go until the half.

“We are a very young team but we’ve gotten so much better since week one, to this point,” said Dave Shiffer, the second-year Pine Grove coach. “That pick by (Troup) was a big play for us at that time. For a sophomore, he keeps getting better each week. We have a lot of those underclassmen, but they just got to learn from games like this.”

Shiffer said the defensive game plan was on target, for the most part. And it was for a while. However, Marian got its wheels back, turned to the dynamic Dixon, and when the fourth quarter hit the scoreboard, the speedy back got rolling once again.

“I just felt comfortable, I wasn’t worried about getting my yardage; that comes. You just need to be patient,” Dixon said. “I was just focusing on getting a win after the last two weeks (losses) we’ve had.”

There was 10 minutes to play in the game when Dixon bolted 14 yards for his second touchdown. That finished a 12-play drive that started on the Marian 39. Marian then got back-to-back short fields to work with, and took advantage of both. Pine Grove used up four downs after Dixon had put his team up 20-7, giving up the ball on its own 27-yard line. It took just five plays, with Dixon zipping up inside on a 2-yard run. It was another short field for Marian, this time at the Pine Grove 37. Senior Charles Hower had six carries in the drive. His final was a 5-yard run to pay dirt.

“Charlie has been with us four years, and senior night, we tried to get him in the end zone,” O’Gurek said. “Early in the year … we just couldn’t do it (for him.”

ADDING IT UP … Marian’s defense was stalwart all evening. It allowed Pine Grove a grand total of 36 yards. The Colts rushed for 210 yards and had 57 passing. In addition to Dixon, the Hower brothers combined for 76 yards on the ground.

STANDOUTS … Marian’s defensive line gets a game ball for its play. Pine Grove’s junior Wyatt Snyder is a load at 6-3, 230 and turned in a standout game.

QUOTABLE … “We did some good things in that first half, obviously we got that pick six. We are young and I said to the guys, we got to grow and learn from this.” Pine Grove coach Shiffer.

QUOTABLE II … “We’re not pretty at times but we got it done. We told our kids during the week, we want to be playing meaningful football games in October.” O’Gurek on how the Colts graded out after Week 9.

Marian 34, Pine Grove 7

Pine Grove 0 7 0 0 - 7

Marian 6 7 0 21 - 34

M - Gelatko 21 pass from Rodino (run failed)

M - Dixon 6 run (Bushati kick)

PG - Troup 45 pass interception (Ludwig kick)

M - Dixon 14 run (Bushati kick)

M - Dixon 2 run (Bushati kick)

M - Chas Hower 5 run (Tom kick)