Shifting gears
ADAMS TWP — In the first quarter, Mars' offense appeared to be stuck in neutral.
The second quarter, well, the squad kicked things into overdrive.
The Planets erupted for 28 second-quarter points and cruised to a 35-14 Allegheny Conference football victory over Valley Friday at the Mars Athletic Complex.
The Planets outgained the Vikings 300-35 in the first half.
“In the beginning, we had problems,” said Planets coach Scott Heinauer. “We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. When we don't do that, we do well.
“We came out in the second quarter and we blocked guys and scored touchdowns. When you don't do that, you get into trouble. It can be drive killers that are difficult to overcome,” Heinauer added.
The Planets (6-2, 3-2) had started off well as Jason Lozzi carried the ball the first five plays and gained 51 yards. Alex Smith followed with an 11-yard run, but a holding penalty two plays later short-circuited the drive.
When the Planets received a 24-yard run by freshman Josh Schultheis late in the first quarter, that seemed to re-ignite a spark to the ground game.
Schultheis carried four times on the six-play drive, capped by a 5-yard run with 10:14 left before halftime.
Mars added three more scores on its next three possessions — a 44-yard keeper by Mars quarterback Owen Nearhoof, a 31-yard run by Jacob Wright and a 42-yard scoring strike to Wright from Nearhoof — opened up a 28-0 lead with 34 seconds left before the break.
“Mars had more penalties in the first half than we did (seven for 70 yards for Mars; four for 35 yards for Valley), but the facemask that kept that drive alive and got them to 28 points hurt us,” said Valley coach Mark Kaczanowicz.
“We had a mental letdown in the second quarter. That was big,” he added.
On Valley's second possession, a fumbled punt was recovered by Chris Smith and set the Planets up at the Valley 27.
Five plays later, Jason Lozzi scored from one yard out to give the Planets a 35-point lead with 4:37 left in the frame and activated the mercy rule.
Valley (0-7, 0-6) added a pair of fourth-quarter scores — a 16-yard run by Dylan Clarke and a 6-yarder from Demetrius Houser — to close out the game.
The second quarter, however, was too much to overcome from Valley.
“What hurt us was extremely poor tackling in the second quarter,” said Kaczanowicz. “They broke tackles and they made runs.”
Lozzi led all rushers with 102 yards on 17 carries while Wright added 96 yards on seven carries and Schultheis 52 on 10 carries.
“I think they all have a different style of running,” added Heinauer, who watched his team rush for 307 yards on 48 carries.
Notes: Garrett Ashbaugh intercepted two passes off Valley quarterback Chaz Cheatham ... Next week, Mars will travel to Knoch to conclude the regular season. Knoch captured the conference title with a 24-6 win over Highlands Friday.
