ADAMS TWP — It had to play deep into the night to do so, but the Mars boys soccer team avoided what would have been a very unwelcome case of deja vu.

Last season, the Planets entered the WPIAL Class AA playoffs as the No. 2 seed following an impressive 17-1 regular season, only to be yanked from postseason play with a 2-0 upset loss to Quaker Valley in the first round.

Monday night, Mars saw a 1-0 lead slip away when the Quakers scored with just one minute, 26 seconds remaining in regulation.

But the Planets battled Quaker Valley to a stalemate through 30 minutes of overtime, then outscored the Quakers 4-3 in penalty kicks and were credited with a 2-1 first-round triumph at the Mars Athletic Complex.

Mars (16-2-1) scored on all four of its penalty kicks thanks to Justin Simakas, Andrew Diefenbacher, Nick Cimini and Andrew Dominijanni.

Planets' senior goalkeeper Dale Glavin stopped Landon Grant on Quaker Valley's third attempt, then blocked Caleb Bender's shot in the fifth attempt with his shin, causing Mars' bench to erupt in celebration.

“It's good to be ready for anything when you're a goalie, including penalty kicks,” said Glavin. “Last year's game was definitely on my mind tonight. My mindset was to get revenge.”

“Dale has been very strong in goal for us this season,” said Planets' coach Chris Knauff. “He is very vocal and helps to organize our defense. He came through for us tonight.”

The victory sends Mars to the district quarterfinals where it will meet Montour (13-3-2), a 3-1 winner over Indiana, on Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

Mars scored early in the first half when Dominijanni took control of the ball 15 yards in front of Quaker Valley's net and sent a shot past goalkeeper Jonathan Reboton in the fifth minute of play.

However, despite controlling the action for most of the first 40 minutes, the Planets' lead remained 1-0 at intermission.

“We know we have the ability to score,” said Knauff. “Sometimes it comes in bunches and other times, it's like we're snake-bitten.”

The Quakers (8-7-3) began to assert themselves early in the second half. Owen Harkins, Walter Hubsch and Ashish Subba all contributed to legitimate scoring chances, but each time the ball either sailed high or wide of the net or Glavin and his defense turned the Quakers away.

A header from Harkins in the 43rd minute ricocheted off a Mars defender and resulted in a corner kick for the Quakers, but that also failed.

In the 64th minute, Subba managed a solid shot from 12 yards out that deflected off of Glavin before being cleared by Caleb Brake.

“It seemed like we began trying to kill the clock in the second half,” said Knauff. “It's not what we wanted to do, but that's how it played out.”

Finally, following a corner kick to the left of the Planet goal, Mars' attempt to clear led to Jonathan Wicker's goal that tied the game in the 79th minute.

“From the second half on, I think we pushed the pace,” said first-year Quaker Valley coach Andrew Marshall. “We were the stronger team, but once it went to penalty kicks, it was a coin toss at that point.”

Rather than letting the late goal demoralize them, the Planets rallied.

“I think it refocused us and got us back to playing our style of soccer,” said Knauff. “Our guys definitely showed character.”

Quaker Valley was awarded eight corner kicks and Mars seven.

Reboton finished the game with 10 saves. Glavin made six stops.