Missed opportunities.

Mars football coach Scott Heinauer is hoping his team got them out of its system last week.

In their 14-10 loss to Fox Chapel, a muffed kickoff and a turnover on downs in the final 6:42 sealed the Planets' fate.

"We didn't play bad defensively last week," said Heinauer. "I thought we played well enough on that side of the ball to win, but we have to capitalize on our opportunities.

"We have to all be on the same page and score more points," he added.

Mars (2-2) opens Greater Allegheny Conference play when it travels to Highlands Friday night.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Highlands finished 11-1 overall last season, including a 26-7 win over Mars and a trip to the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals, but the Rams lost 22 seniors from that team.

The squad went 0-4 in nonconference games in September, scoring a combined 20 points.

The Rams' latest defeat came to Kiski Area last Friday, 20-0.

Highlands coach Sam Albert has just five starters back in 2009 — wideouts Tyler Cole, Seth Edwards and Dyllon Powell on offense while the defense has Cole at free safety and Mike Douchette at defensive end.

Sophomore Gage Clark and senior Mike Lenosky have split time at quarterback.

"(Clark) can run and is a very good athlete," said Albert. "(Lenosky) throws the better deep ball.

"We'd like to settle on one guy," he added. "We're waiting for one of them to take the job."

One area where inexperience has hurt the Rams is the offensive line.

"They'll take one step forward in a game, and then two steps back in the next," Albert said. "But that's part of the learning process. Young kids are going to make mistakes, but we're just looking for them to give an all-out effort."

"Sam's got a young football team and they're good enough to win football games, no doubt," said Heinauer. "They're just making a lot of mistakes. That's what happens when you're playing a lot of sophomores, who don't have the seasoning that somebody who's played for two years at varsity has.

"We're both 0-0 in the standings, that's how we're looking at it," Heinauer added. "Everything from here on out counts toward the playoffs."

Knoch (0-4, 0-0) at Franklin Regional (3-1, 0-0), 7:30 p.m., FridayThe winless Knights have improved under sophomore QB Kyler Kenyon, scoring 31 points the past two weeks. ... RB Andrew Rumburg-Goodlin leads Knoch with 62 carries for 287 yards and two TDs. ... Since moving from quarterback, Jake McTighe has emerged as Knoch's leading receiver with six catches for 52 yards. ... Franklin Regional edged the Knights 13-10 last season. ... The Panthers' lone loss is a 16-13 decision at Ambridge. They've rolled up high offensive production in 48-15, 42-21 and 33-20 wins over Southmoreland, Fox Chapel and Plum, respectively. ... Senior QB Steve Liberatore has completed 20-of-31 passes for 395 yards and six TDs vs. Fox Chapel and Plum the past two weeks. ... RB Chad Bowman had 17 carries for 255 yards and 4 TDs vs. Fox Chapel. ... The Panthers' two-way lineman, Sean Hickey (6-foot-8, 285 pounds), is being recruited by Illinois, Syracuse and Boston College.

Union (0-4, 0-4) at Moniteau (2-2, 2-2) 7 p.m., FridayThe Warriors, who jumped out to a 41-0 first quarter lead, evened their record after a 57-6 rout of A-C Valley. Kyle Armagost rushed for three touchdowns and James Shope had 123 yards on six carries and two more scores. ... Shope had rushed for 463 yards and eight touchdowns while Armagost has rushed for five touchdowns. ... Union fell to Keystone 42-8 despite receiving 80 yards rushing from Zach Traister, who also accounted for the team's lone score against the Panthers. Traister has rushed for 446 yards in 2009. ... Moniteau defeated Union 42-12 last year and has outscored the Golden Knights 286-34 in the teams' last six meetings.

Keystone (3-1, 3-1) at Karns City (4-0, 4-0) 7 p.m., FridayThe Gremlins were dominant on both sides of the ball against Clarion-Limestone last week in a 35-7 win. ... Karns City held C-L to minus-20 yards rushing and intercepted three passes. ... Meanwhile, the KC offense turned in another masterpiece. Quarterback Dylan Hipple was 10-of-16 for 135 yards and two touchdowns, hooking up with Brandon Collier on scoring plays of 39 and 20 yards. ... Keystone comes in off a 42-8 win over Union and the Panthers only loss this season was a 21-12 setback to Clarion. ... Keystone has a balanced offensive attack led by quarterback Dan Reed, who has already amassed 851 yards through the air this season. ... Keystone has thrown the ball 100 times and run it 102 times this season. ... Reed is also the team's leading rusher with 259 yards on 48 carries.

A-C Valley (0-4, 0-4) at Punxsutawney (2-2, 2-1) 7 p.m., FridayThe Chucks opened the season with losses to Karns City and DuBois Area, but they defeated Moniteau (45-16) and Clarion (20-6) the last two weeks. ... QB Logan Weaver has thrown for 543 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. He's also rushed for 172 yards and another score. ... The Chucks' ground game is led by Brennan Niver's 204 yards and three touchdowns on 30 carries, while Nick Wehrle has 169 yards and one score. ... WR Braedon Pennington is averaging 20.7 yards per catch (16 for 331) and has scored two touchdowns. ... A-C Valley RB Justin Loll rushed for 93 yards in the Falcons' loss to Moniteau last week.

Greenville (3-1, 1-1) at Grove City (3-1, 2-0) 7 p.m., FridayGrove City is coming off a 63-0 whitewashing of Franklin ... Greenville, which will be playing its third of four straight road games, thumped Chestnut Ridge 29-7 last week. ... The Trojans are a heavy run team led by a trio of ballcarriers. ... Dylan Zuschlag leads the team with 294 yards rushing, followed by R.J. Malson with 275 yards and Josh Riffe with 151 yards on the ground. ... The Eagles are no strangers to a running back by committee with four backs with 185 yards rushing or more this season. ... Marty Phipps leads the GC ground attack with 237 yards and a better than 10-yards-per-carry average.

Reynolds (1-3, 1-1) at Slippery Rock (0-4, 0-2) 7 p.m., SaturdayReynolds has scored just 25 points this season, but are coming off a 6-0 win over Titusville. ... The offensive woes continued for Slippery Rock as the Rockets were blanked by Sharon 34-0. ... Justin Angerett has been a bright spot for the SR offense, rushing for 229 yards on 39 carries. ... Salvaging a season after an 0-4 start is nothing new for the Rockets. In 2005, Slippery Rock started 0-4, but won four straight games before losing to McDowell to end a playoff chace. The next season, SR started 0-5, but won three of the next four games to get into playoff contention again before losing to Warren. "These first four game, we just need to just throw it in the tank and flush it," said Slippery Rock coach Glenn Hazlet.

Valley (2-2, 2-2) at Summit Academy (0-4, 0-4) 12:30 p.m., SaturdayThe Vikings slipped past Deer Lakes 28-19 to stay in the thick of the Allegheny Conference chase. LeBren Onel scored two second-half touchdowns to erase a 14-7 halftime deficit. He finished the game with 153 yards rushing. ... The Knights lost a tough 14-0 decision to undefeated Ford City Saturday. They limited the Sabers to 198 total yards, but racked up only 75 yards and five first downs in the process.