The Mars football team has a quarterback who is on pace to throw for more than 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The Planets have a fullback who is eyeing a second-straight 1,000-yard rushing campaign.

Not to be outdone, the team's receivers have shown big-play ability several times so far in 2005.

Where has all that talent taken the Planets after four games? To a 1-3 overall record, with the latest loss coming to Laurel, the team many expected Mars to supplant as Tri-County North Conference champions.

The Planets dropped a 33-14 decision to the Spartans last week after giving away three interceptions, two fumbles and committing six penalties.

By halftime of the much-awaited game, the Planets were on the wrong end of a 20-0 score.

"We just didn't execute," said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. "But adults dwell more on a loss than teenage kids do. They know what they need to do.

"Our goal now is to run the table," added Heinauer.

That's a five-game stretch the veteran coach is referring to, beginning with this Friday's game with Summit Academy.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Mars Athletic Complex.

Some might think the game is a gimme for the Planets, who crushed the Knights last season, 41-0.

Not so fast.

The Planets have given up an average of 166 yards rushing in their three defeats.

And in last week's narrow 13-12 loss to Neshannock, Summit Academy rushed the ball 30 times for 225 yards.

The effort was led by Brad Walker's 117 yards on 13 carries.

"Our running game has come around," said Summit Academy coach Steve Sherer. "Walker had a couple of nice runs, but he's not the only one. (Delaney) Huggins and (Vaughan) Horton also had a couple of nice runs and we'll need that again."

Another positive was the passing game of quarterback Earl Zarpeles (116 yards in the air last week) and receiver Kasil Butler (three receptions for 75 yards).

"At the beginning of every season, you never know exactly what (Summit Academy) has, just because they go through a lot of changes every year," said Heinauer. "But I think this year, they have a few more athletes, a bit more talent.

"Our kids know what they have to do," added Heinauer.

And if the Planets can't correct their mistakes from a week ago, they will be staring at a 1-2 conference record.

That doesn't sound insurmountable by any stretch. But the Planets lost just three conference games a season ago and missed out on the WPIAL Class AA playoffs.

"We just need to play the way we're capable of playing," Heinauer said.

Sherer said his team is getting better, as evidenced by last week's one-point loss, but he said Mars poses a stiff challenge.

"They're 1-3, but they've lost to Pine-Richland, Center and Laurel. That's three pretty good teams," the coach said.

"We have to step it up and make sure we put pressure on their quarterback and stop their running game," he added.

The Knights can ill-afford to beat themselves, as they did with the 10 penalties they incurred last week.

"We had a lot of penalties, and we can't have that," said Sherer. "In the first three games, we didn't have it. I don't know what happened."