The Laurel football team is coming off its first conference loss since 2003.

Spartans' coach Jerry Holzhauser is hoping that fact alone will serve as motivation as the team prepares for possibly its stiffest challenge of the 2005 campaign.

Mars, fresh off a 57-14 drubbing of Union-New Castle last week, will travel to Laurel for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday.

Laurel (2-1) dropped a 14-7 decision to Riverside last week.

"We sure hope (the loss) motivates the kids," he said. "We haven't played four quarters of football yet, but we need to play our best if we're going to beat Mars."

The Spartans went 7-0 in Tri-County North Conference play a season ago, outscoring their opponents 228-55 in the process.

That run included a 50-15 thumping of Mars on the Planets' home field.

In that game, junior wide receiver Corey Collins caught two touchdown passes for Laurel.

Collins is now the Spartans' quarterback, and a talented one at that.

"He's an outstanding athlete," Holzhauser said. "The quarterback handles the ball on every play and we wanted our best athlete to be in that position."

"Laurel is a team that will pass the ball about sixty percent of the time," said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. "But then they'll hit you with the run when you're not expecting it."

In three contests, Collins has passed for 434 yards, but he's also ran for three scores.

His favorite targets include senior Brad Weisenstein and junior Ryan Forbes.

"(Collins) brings the pass-run option," said Heinauer. "That's a key factor to their offense. We need to contain him, and we're going to try to keep switching things up on defense to do that."

The Planets (1-2) will bring a potent offense of their own into the game.

Senior fullback Paul Ferrese has rushed for 211 yards and a 5.4 yards-per-carry average, while junior quarterback D.J. Cannon has passed for five touchdowns through three games.

The Planets threw six touchdown passes the entire 2004 campaign.

"We're always going to be a team that likes to run the football," said Heinauer. "But if we have a kid who can throw it, that allows us to do some different things on offense.

"In years past, we've had quarterbacks who've been runners," Heinauer added. "But D.J. is 6-foot-3 and is able to see things downfield very well."

"Mars is solid in all aspects of the game," said Holzhauser. "They've got a good quarterback, a solid ground game and are good up front and on defense. I really don't see any weaknesses with them."

Holzhauser said one of his team's goals is to win the conference title for a second straight year. A loss to Mars would put the Spartans two games back of the Planets.

"I don't know if we can call it a must-win at this point," said Holzhauser. "Every game is important. We're just focused on taking it one game at a time and getting better every week."