Sweet 3-peat
MOON TWP — Ask any Mars boys lacrosse player before the season what the goal was for the team in 2018, and the answer may have been a bit surprising.
“I'm not going to lie,” said senior Anthony Grieco. “None of us would have said the WPIAL championship.”
It wasn't because the Planets thought they would fail to win their third consecutive WPIAL 2A title. It was because they had loftier goals.
“This was a step,” Grieco added after Mars blew the doors off rival Hampton Friday night on the way to an utterly dominating 17-4 win over the Talbots at Joe Walton Stadium on the campus of Robert Morris University to win another crown. “This is just another step to get where we ultimately want to be, which is a state championship.”
Mars (17-1) left little doubt about whether it would claim its third straight WPIAL title.
The Planets led 6-0 after the first quarter and 13-0 late in the first half before Hampton (14-6) finally found the net with six seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Seven different Mars players scored a goal in the first two quarters. Cade Hetzler scored five goals — all in the second — including two just 20 seconds apart.
“We have so many different guys who can score,” said Mars coach Bob Marcoux. “We've had six or seven guys who have put up really big numbers this year, so you can't really focus your defense on any one guy.
“We find the open guy,” Marcoux added. “It's a really, really unselfish group.”
Mars wanted to put its foot on Hampton's neck early, especially after struggling to a 10-5 win at Hampton in the first meeting.
“That's something we wanted to do at the beginning — bury them,” Hetzler said. “We didn't want to give them any breathing room, and that's what we did.”
Mars will open the PIAA playoffs Tuesday.
Last season, the Planets lost in the state semifinals to perennial power West Chester Henderson.
The Planets have been focused on getting back to that point all season. But they've also done well to not get too far ahead of themselves.
It's been a fine line they've walked, Grieco said.
“We want to live in the moment,” he said. “Obviously, we have a lot of experience here, and the whole focus of the playoffs is not to be overconfident. We wanted to stay dialed in.”
Mars is dialed in on one thing.
A state title and turning the tables on the dominant teams in the east.
“East, West, North, South — we don't care,” Grieco said. “This has to be the year. We're locked and loaded. We're ready to go. Honestly, I don't think we've peaked yet.”
