With their backs against the wall last week in the District 11 A playoff picture, the Marian Colts needed a win on the road at Schuylkill Haven. When it comes to the Anthracite Football League, the Hurricanes' Rotary Field serves as one of the best home field advantages in the area.

The Colts were coming off of three straight losses, and if that wasn't troubling enough, Marian head coach Stan Dakosty was stuck on 299 wins. Needless to say, there was more than the usual motivation to bring home a "W" to Hometown last Friday night.Enter Colts running back K.J. Snerr.The dynamic senior running back missed the last game-and-a-half for the Colts due to a knee injury. It was evident the offense lost some punch without him in the lineup. Marian tallied just 113 total yards of offense against Blue Mountain and 119 yards against Lehighton.Snerr brought the "homerun" threat back to the Colts "O" against the 'Canes, rushing for 225 yards on 20 carries, piling up three rushing touchdowns and also passing for a score.Snerr's performance helped Coach Stan Dakosty gain his 300th career victory, and even more importantly, got the Colts "off the schneid" and back into the District 11 Class A playoff picture. His performance was also good enough to garner this week's Times News Player of the Week award.Physical ability and statistics aside, the Colts really missed Snerr's leadership over the last game-and-a-half. The ability to lead and make others better around him is truly an irreplaceable commodity to a football team."K.J. is the kind of football player that just elevates the people around him like most great players do," said Daksoty. "Last week was really the first game where he was 100 percent healthy and I think it showed with the way he ran the football. He's a captain, he's getting towards the top of our rushing leaders here now, and he's been great on defense, which goes unnoticed. He's everything you want in a player and more."What's really impressive about Snerr's performance last Friday night was that it came after missing significant time. Coming back from an injury - let alone a knee injury, is not an easy task to complete by any means. On top of that, being counted on to produce at a high level showed the kind of mental moxie Snerr possesses."Every injury that I've had has been a real humbling experience for me," said Snerr. "You feel like you're on top of the world when you're healthy and playing well and then you can really get knocked down a few pegs after you get injured. But for me it's kind of made me better. You find a part of yourself you didn't know that was there because you have to push through and battle."As noted, the 2015 season will be Snerr's last year putting on the pads for the blue and gold. The Colts have accomplished a lot since Snerr has been on the roster, including an Eastern Conference championship a season ago. With this being his senior season, Snerr and his teammates want to leave everything they have out on the field and make a bigger splash this postseason."This is a tight-knit senior group on and off the field," said Snerr. "There's no doubt that we would like to win a district title and leave our mark here at Marian. We can get on each other during a game and then after it's all over there's no sour or bad feelings. That's when you know you have great teammates and great team chemistry."The Colts came through with a big win last week against Schuylkill Haven, and it could be the game that Marian players and coaches look back on and say "this is the game that set us going in the right direction.""Last week was a big win and we're going to find out here real fast if we can carry that momentum into this week," said Dakosty. "We have a really tough opponent in Mahanoy Area this week, which is a team that has played well this season. We had a great week of practice, we're home this week, and we're honoring our 1990 State Championship team. This is what it's all about, Friday night lights, so it's up to us to come out and play well."