ADAMS TWP — It appears as though Mars High School's cornucopia showed up a bit early this year as the school has watched success ooze from its fall sports teams.

Consider:

• The girls golf team won the WPIAL title after winning its section with a perfect 14-0 record.

Two of its members, twin sisters Lauren and Marisa Glew, placed sixth and 12th, respectively, at the PIAA championships on Tuesday.

• The volleyball team, under first-year coach Kevin Walters, tied Knoch for the Section 2-AA title with a 10-2 record. The Planets are preparing for the WPIAL playoffs.

n The football team has won five games in a row and is now 7-1 overall. The team still has a chance to grab a share of the Tri-County North Conference title.

• The boys soccer team entered the district playoffs with a 16-1 record and made it to the WPIAL quarterfinals before losing 2-0 to Beaver Wednesday.

• The boys and girls cross country teams have a combined record of 28-4, with the girls owning a 15-1 mark.

• The boys golf team was 10-4 overall, its fifth consecutive winning season under coach Tim Tyler.

• The girls soccer team just missed out on a playoff berth, but still finished with a winning overall record of 9-8-1, 7-5 in the section.

It's one thing for a high school to have two or three programs do well in a season, but all of the above teams had winning records. The girls tennis program, which finished just below .500 at 8-9, was bumped up to Class AAA this season and proved it can compete at that level.

"That's something that's a credit to our coaches," said Mars athletic director and football coach Scott Heinauer about the fall season teams' success. "And it says a lot about Mars High School and the athletes who compete here."

The Planets' volleyball team was no stranger to success.

But this year the team was faced with an obstacle that proves to be the downfall of many teams: youth.

"I've got just three players who played on the varsity team last year," said Walters. "Everyone else came up from junior varsity."

Despite his youthful lineup, Walters, who previously coached at North Catholic, was optimistic about his squad.

"We were looking to be successful this season. And it's been an overall team effort. We spread the ball around to our middle and outside hitters, but my main concentration is on defense,"he said. "Defense is where games are won or lost. Offense will take care of itself."

As for the cross country teams, one squad has been led by a veteran while the other has followed the lead of a first-year runner.

The veteran is senior Cody Kier, who has been running since seventh grade, led the boys to a 13-3 record.

"He worked harder this year," said coach Joelle Patterson. "He concentrated and put in the miles."

That extra effort rewarded Kier with a first-place finish at the recent MAC meet, helping the boys team take first place as well.

"As far as we know, no boy from Mars had ever won the MAC Invite," said Patterson. "And no Mars team had ever come in first, either."

Cara Hudac is a senior as well, but she's a rookie when it comes to cross country.

She is Mars' top girls runner entering the WPIAL championships, to be held today at Cooper's Lake.

"It's rare for somebody to pick up cross country and be successful right away," said Patterson. "But she's a great girl and a hard worker."

The boys golf squad has made a habit out of winning under fifth-year coach Tyler.

And wins weren't always easy to come by for the team.

"I began teaching here in 1970, and they had a golf team back then," Tyler said. "To my knowledge, Mars had never had a winning season up until five years ago."

The team's top six golfers included Brian Routhieaux, Greg Hilscher, Ian Finney, R.J. Hardt, Steve Tracey and Chris Weber.

The girls soccer team continued its tradition of winning seasons under first-year coach Susie Giovengo.

Led by forward Glennis Robash, midfielder/defender Angela Higgins and goalkeeper Rachel Turkovich, the team was in the playoff hunt up until the final section game of the season.

Turkovich, a sophomore, was forced to leave the must-win game against Hampton with a broken jaw and Mars lost the game and a playoff spot.

But the season had many bright spots.

"Except for that last game against Hampton, we didn't lose a big section game by more than one goal," said Giovengo.