BELLE VERNON — They say you can't win a football game in the first quarter, but you can lose it.

That wouldn't be too far off from describing how Mars' season ended Friday night.

In the first 12 minutes of their WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal playoff against Belle Vernon, the Planets saw their chances of advancing greatly diminish.

Mars' offense struggled to get going — gaining just four yards combined in its first three possessions — while the defense and special teams both allowed big plays as the Leopards jumped out to a 21-0 edge in the opening period.

Mars turned in impressive plays on both sides of the ball afterwards, but the Planets never came close to erasing the early deficit in a 42-7 season-ending loss.

“We had four turnovers tonight,” said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. “You can't do that, especially against a No. 2 seed. They (Leopards) had one nice drive, the first drive of the game. Other than that, I feel we gave them their scores.”

That first drive helped to put the Planets on their heels early, but before the Leopards could score, they needed to get out of their own end.

Facing a 3rd-and-5 from his own 11-yard line, Belle Vernon quarterback Jared Hartman ran for 19 yards. From there, only a holding penalty hindered the Leopards on their way to the end zone. Larry Callaway scampered 37 yards for the game's first score with 7:31 remaining on the first-quarter clock.

Mars (6-5) went 3-and-out on its first drive and the punt was returned 51 yards for another touchdown by Logan Pfrogner.

Hartman hooked up with Derek Thomas on a 37-yard scoring strike on the final play of the first quarter for a 21-0 lead.

“It was great to get off to a fast start,” said Leopard coach Matt Humbert. “There was talk around here this week about next week's game already, but I'm glad that our guys weren't distracted by it.”

On the second play of the second quarter, Planet quarterback Tyler Kowalkowski threw the first of his three interceptions in the game. Belle Vernon (10-0) soon turned it into more points on Hartman's 1-yard run and a commanding 28-0 lead.

As bad as things seemed for Mars, they had a chance to enter halftime with something to build on.

After forcing a turnover-on-downs deep in their own territory, Mars finally sustained a drive. The Planets moved 79 yards, with the big plays, including an 18-yard run by Teddy Ruffner and a 26-yard pass from Kowalkowski to Sheehy. But after reaching Belle Vernon's 4-yard line, the drive stalled, with Kowalkowski's pass falling incomplete in the end zone on fourth down.

“That was a critical stop for their defense right before halftime,” said Heinauer. “We score there, we have some momentum.”

The Planets would cut Belle Vernon's lead to 28-7 when Garrett Reinke raced 50 yards for a touchdown with seven minutes left in the third quarter, but Mars failed to pull any closer.

Mars 0 0 7 0 — 7

Belle Vernon 21 7 0 14 — 42

First Quarter

BV — Larry Callaway 37 run (kick blocked), 7:31

BV — Logan Pfrogner 51 punt return (Jared Hartman run), 5:19

BV — Derek Thomas 37 pass from Hartman (Cameron Guess kick), :00

Second Quarter

BV — Hartman 1 run (Guess kick), 8:14

Third Quarter

M — Garrett Reinke 50 run (Christopher Check kick), 7:00

Fourth Quarter

BV — Dylan Haney 3 run (Guess kick), 8:04

BV — Haney 3 run (Guess kick), 1:48

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Mars, Chuck Green 2-5, Garrett Reinke 10-59, Tyler Kowalkowski 6-0, Andrew Moyer 2-5, Teddy Ruffner 9-56, Thomas Sheehy 1-21, Drew Schlegel 1-(-8), Jake Richardson 1-3. Belle Vernon, Mason Pascoe 16-130, Hartman 10-41, Larry Callaway 14-100, Logan Pfronger 1-(-1), Hunter Ruokonen 1-3, Dylan Haney 5-36, TEAM 2-(-5)

Passing: Mars, Kowalkowski 3-10-45-3. Belle Vernon, Hartman 4-10-73-0

Receiving: Mars, Moyer 1-4, Reinke 1-15, Sheehy 1-26. Belle Vernon, Derek Thomas 2-43, Pfrogner 1-8, Ruokonen 1-22