MECHANICSBURG — The Mars boys lacrosse team wanted to possess the ball and be physical.

The Planets accomplished one of those things. The one they didn't accomplish was possessing the ball and it cost Mars dearly in a 20-9 loss to West Chester Henderson Tuesday afternoon in the PIAA Class AA semifinals at Cumberland Valley High School.

“Possessions in lacrosse are key,” said Mars coach Bob Marcoux. “Once they started dominating possessions, we had a tough time coming back.”

Mars did hold its own in the first quarter, rallying from 2-0 down early to take a 3-2 lead and trailed 5-4 at the end of the quarter.

But West Chester Henderson (20-3), the oldest boys lacrosse program in the state at 49 years, shut out Mars (21-3) in the second quarter and took a 9-4 lead into the half.

It got worse for the Planets in the third quarter as Henderson dominated possession and outscored Mars 7-2 to take a 16-6 lead.

Henderson led 19-6 midway through the fourth quarter.

“We're not used to playing this brand of lacrosse out west,” Marcoux said. “They move the ball really, really well. Our gameplan was to try to hold on to the ball as long as we could and maintain possession. When we couldn't get draws or ground balls, it made it tough to do that.”

Luke Wierman was the man for Henderson on the draw and he won all but three in the match.

“The difference was the face-off guy,” said Henderson coach Paul Stankewicz, who is the only coach the Warriors have had in their nearly five-decade history. “(Wierman) was great. He's been great all season.”

Still, Mars delivered a quick punch to the Warriors' collective noses early with their physical play. It seemed to take Henderson aback and forced several turnovers that led to Mars goals.

It was the kind of start that the Planets and Marcoux were hoping for.

“That's the style we play,” Marcoux said. “We're an athletic and physical team. I thought we could play like that against them because I wasn't sure if they had seen that.”

But Henderson adjusted.

And there was little panic on the Warriors' bench.

“Look at the shot chart. We outshot them by a lot,” Stankewicz said. “It looked good for us. We knew if we had more possessions than they did, we would be all right. And we were.”

Mars goalie Jack Austin was superb, stopping 13 shots, most of them difficult off deep shots by Henderson.

“He made some big saves,” Marcoux said. “He's been consistent for us all year. He's made a lot of big saves in big games for us this year.”

Stankewicz was also impressed with the play of Austin.

“Their goalie made some great saves,” Stankewicz said. “They're a very good team, very potent offensively. But so are we.”

Archer Rymiszewski was certainly potent for Henderson, scoring seven goals.

The Warriors received goals from nine different players.

Ben Lewis scored four goals and Anthony Grieco added three to lead the Planets' attack.

After falling behind 2-0 less than two minutes in, Cade Hetzler scored a pair of goals to draw Mars even. Lewis' first goal of the game put Mars up 3-2 briefly late in the first quarter.

Henderson took a lot of deep shots, something Marcoux saw on film.

But the Planets had just one day to prepare for it.

“It kind of snowballed, but that can happen in lacrosse,” Marcoux said, “especially when you're losing faceoffs.”

Despite the loss, Mars — in just its fifth year of existence — made it to the final four in the state.

“Under perfect circumstances, we would have had a shot,” Marcoux said. “It just kind of got away from us.

“We've come a long way. We can play in these types of games. I just wish we could have kept this one close. But, absolutely, there's a lot to build on for next year. The program's in a good spot.”