ADAMS TWP - On Friday night, Pine-Richland's Jake Long might have etched his name onto the long list of great quarterbacks from Western Pennsylvania.

Long threw a 20-yard scoring strike to Pat McClernon with 29 seconds left to give the Rams a 27-25 come-from-behind victory over Mars.

Long completed 14 of 21 passes for 242 yards and three touchdowns.

"Jake is our leader," said Pine-Richland coach Clair Altemus. "We have a green team that needs to gel, and they want to make plays for Jake."

Pine-Richland was the first to get on the scoreboard with 31 seconds left in the first half when McClernon hauled in a 9-yard pass from Long.

Mars answered right back when Tim Frey caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from D.J. Cannon on a fade pattern in the left corner of the end zone with 9 seconds remaining in the half.

A key play on the drive was a 60-yard run by Paul Ferrese that moved the Planets to the Pine-Richland 15-yard line.

Ferrese had 135 yards rushing for the Planets.

"That Ferrese kid for Mars is tough," said Altemus. "We just couldn't bring him down. He was cramping up but he just wouldn't go down."

The Rams scored with no time remaining on the first-half clock when Matt Gray received the ensuing kickoff and blazed 85 yards for the score.

The three first-half touchdowns came in the final 31 seconds of the second quarter.

Pine-Richland scored on the first play of the third quarter when Gray pulled in a 65-yard bomb from Long to give the Rams a 21-6 advantage.

Mars replied by driving 80 yards in 10 plays.

Cannon capped off the drive by diving in from the 1-yard line.

With 9:41 left in the game, Cannon used his arm as well as his legs by firing a 53-yard pass to Josh Keil streaking down the sideline.

Cannon had 213 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.

"Tonight's game was like a prize fight," said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. "Kids were throwing blows and offenses were coming through when they needed to come through."

Mars went ahead for the first time in the game with 1:23 left in the fourth quarter when Cannon sneaked into the end zone from the 1.

A key play on the drive was a personal foul penalty called against Pine-Richland on fourth down that gave Mars an automatic first down to keep the drive alive.

On the Rams' final touchdown drive, Long moved the team 67 yards in six plays in less than a minute, capped by the game-winning toss to McClernon.

"I'm proud of my kids," said Heinauer. "They fought tooth and nail. We were behind and maybe we had the chance to get blown out with the team that they have, but we got back into it and scored touchdowns when we needed them."