H.S. FOOTBALL: Marian Catholic hoping to find stride in season’s home stretch
· Yahoo Sports
The Marian Catholic Colts enter the final four-week stretch of the 2026 season sitting firmly in the District XI playoff hunt.
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The Colts are 3-3, including 2-1 in Schuylkill League action. It has been, all in all, a good season for Marian Catholic, which has shown through six weeks to be one of the stronger teams within the league.
Despite their 3-3 record, the Colts are agonizingly close to being 5-1 this season, with a one-point, 34-33 season-opening loss to Palmerton and a 12-10 loss to Tamaqua three weeks later.
Their third loss of the year was a 45-26 loss to Shenandoah Valley, a game the Colts led 20-6 after the first quarter before watching the lead slip away.
A breakthrough for Marian may not be too far away.
“The thing that we’ve been preaching to our team is in each of our six games so far this year, we’ve had a double-digit lead at some point in the game,” Colts coach Billy O’Gurek Jr. said. “So it’s a double-edged sword. It’s good because it shows that we’re capable of playing to our potential and building those leads, but early in the season we lost a couple close ones, one to Palmerton by one, Tamaqua by two. That’s why this past week at Tri-Valley was such a big win, because it showed the growth in our team to build that big lead and be able to hold them off in the second half.”
In week six, with a 2-3 record, the Colts traveled to Hegins to take on a Tri-Valley team that was red-hot, winning four straight games with everything clicking.
But the Colts had different ideas, jumping out to a 17-7 first-half lead before holding off a second-half comeback effort from the Bulldogs. Pulling off the upset win on the road after a tough loss to Shenandoah Valley could ultimately serve as a turning point for Marian.
“I credit that to our senior leadership, and it’s not just seniors,” O’Gurek said about his team’s resolve. “These guys, no matter what happened on Friday night, whether we won or lost, they’ve showed up on Monday ready to tackle the week ahead of them. They show up on Monday, and they know that the task ahead is what’s important, and they’ve really bought into that 1-0 mentality every week.”
On Friday night, the Colts will take on Nativity BVM at Men of Marian Stadium, looking for their second straight victory. It would be the first time the Colts have done so this fall.
With a tough final three-week stretch of Williams Valley, Mahanoy Area, and Schuylkill Haven, Friday night’s matchup against Nativity is as pivotal as a week-seven matchup could be for Marian.
“We can’t look ahead,” O’Gurek said. “We’ve got to play each one in front of us, and if we do, hopefully we get to the end of the season where we’re in a position to qualify for the playoffs, play a playoff game, and hopefully compete for a championship.”
A big piece of Marian’s offense this season has been running back Tyler Price. After expecting to be a part of a two-back system this season in the backfield, Price became the primary tailback after former Colts running back Rory Dixon chose to focus on wrestling.
“We’re really lucky to have him,” O’Gurek said. “As we finished up last year, we started to introduce him in the backfield a little bit more. We started running some more split-back sets with him and Rory, and we knew that was going to be a big part of what we wanted to do going into this year.”
“So he was already preparing to carry the ball, probably not to the extent to which he has so far this year, but he worked really hard this offseason. He already was a good player, but to really transform his body, he hit the weight room hard, and pound for pound is probably the strongest kid on our team,” O’Gurek added. “He had a great summer going to some prospect camps and really bought into what was possible down the road. We’re just really fortunate to have a player like him on our team. He’s really special. You don’t get kids like him a whole lot, and he’s really shown the area that he’s one of the best players in the county this year.”
So far through six games, Price has totaled 1,031 yards and 11 touchdowns across 136 attempts.
In the backfield with him is quarterback Gregory Tirpak, who has taken his game to another level this season, completing 58.2% of his passes for 973 yards and 10 touchdowns with just one interception.
“He’s efficient,” O’Gurek said. “I think the maturity he has shown from last year to this year is a big reason why he has improved in his play. He knows what to expect, but the big thing is the turnovers. He has a 10-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio this year, and he’s just taken care of the ball really well. When we’re taking care of the ball ourselves and our defense or special teams is able to generate some turnovers, like this past week against Tri-Valley, that really puts our team in a good position to win.”
The third key piece of the offense has been tight end and defensive end Rocco Griguoli, who has developed into a focal point in the passing attack. Formerly used as a wide receiver, Griguoli transitioned into a true tight end this fall and as a result has flourished, adding three offers from Division I programs in the process.
“We knew going into this year, not just for our team’s purposes, but for his purposes as a potential Division I prospect, that at 6’4″, 220 pounds, teams are going to want to be able to see his physicality and see him block,” O’Gurek said. “We knew that we would have to get him in those positions to do so, and he has really responded well to it.”
“Our team is at its best when we’re able to throw the ball and run the ball; we’re averaging about 180, 185 rushing, and about 160 passing,” he continued. “That makes it tough for defenses to focus in on one guy, but we’re really lucky to have a guy like Rocco that could be the focal point of our passing game. He is just scratching the surface, and he’s been a huge part of our success so far this year.”
But any coach will tell you that their team is only as good as their defense. For the Colts this season, in their three wins, they’ve allowed just six, 14, and 21 points. In their three losses: 12, 34, and 45 points.
When things are going right defensively, the Colts have leaned on their defensive line.
“Our defensive line, I think, is the strong point of our team,” O’Gurek said. “Even with what we’ve been able to do offensively this year, I thought going into this season that our defensive line was the best unit on our team with all four starters back from last year. Rocco and Jason Ashfield as the defensive ends, and Dominic Rodino, who was an All-State player last year, and Billy Ebert, who’s been a two- or three-year starter for us at the tackles.”
“Those guys, when they’re able to do what they have done so far this year and really bottle up opponents’ run games, that really opens things up for us defensively,” he added. “They’ve been the focal point of our defense.”