INDIANA, Pa. — Indiana High was playing for its Class AAA playoff life on Friday.

As for Mars, its offense showed no signs of life.

The Indiana defense limited the Planets to 56 total yards and five first downs while the Indians offense scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull away in a 21-0 Greater Allegheny Conference triumph.

"We missed a lot of blocks and we didn't play our game," said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. "We just did not play well, and, as the head coach, I take the responsibility for that."

"Our defense gave us opportunities," said Indiana coach Mark Zilinskas. "Once we got the momentum (in the second half), we were able to keep going."

Things were bad for the Planets (5-3, 2-2), but they trailed only 7-0 at halftime, despite running just 21 offensive plays, two for first downs, and had just one total yard in the first five possessions combined.

The lone score came when Indians quarterback Ben Fiscus found a seam and scored on a 33-yard run with 5:15 before halftime.

Mars did pick up those two first downs on the ensuing possession, moving the ball from its own 25 to the Indiana 42, but turned the ball over on downs with 1:15 remaining.

Indiana (6-2, 2-2) got into field-goal range, but kicker Jonathan Mateer's 37-yard attempt was wide on the final play of the half.

Things seemed brighter for the Planets when they took the opening possession of the second half and picked up a pair of first downs on consecutive plays.

A 15-yard pass to Dan King from John Brake on third-and-8 from the Mars 23 was followed by a 13-yard run from Austin Miele that put Mars at the Indiana 49.

Things started to go downhill from there, however, as a four-yard loss by Garrett Smith was followed by Tyler Pollock's third sack of Brake for a 7-yard loss.

A delay-of-game penalty was followed by another 7-yard loss when Brake slipped on a rollout.

All of the sudden, Mars was facing a fourth-and-33 from its own 27 yard line and had to punt.

Indiana's offense ran 11 plays on its first drive of the second half, but turned the ball over on downs at the Mars 13 when Miele dropped Jay Pettina in the backfield on a fourth-and-1.

Mars, however, ran only seven more offensive plays the rest of the game, as Indiana used good field position to put the game out of reach.

After three plays and a punt, Indiana took over at the Mars 36. Six plays later, Vinnie Gatti scored from 10 yards out to give the Indians a 14-0 lead with 10:37 remaining.

A Planets fumble on the third play of the next drive put the ball at the Mars 34. A 10-play drive was capped by a 2-yard run by Ian Jones with 4:08 to close out the scoring.

"We played with a lot of heart," said Zilinskas. "Mars is a very good football team. We got a couple of breaks and you have to take advantage of that, especially late in the season."

Brake was intercepted on the first play of what would be Mars' final possession. The Indians ran off the final four minutes of the clock to notch their second consecutive conference win.

"When you let them start drives inside the 50, that tends to stress your defense," said Heinauer. "We've got to correct our mistakes."

The Planets need a win against Knoch next week to clinch a playoff spot. He hopes his team will be up for the challenge of moving up to Class AAA and qualifying for a post-season berth.

"I wish I knew the answer," said Heinauer. "You're dealing with kids. I didn't think we played all that well last week (a 42-7 victory over Hampton). We had a lot of big plays, but we didn't have any big plays (this week).

"We did not move the ball offensively, and we have to be able to do that."