ADAMS TWP — Owen Nearhoof saw the ball laying on the Mars Athletic Complex turf.

His first thought was to fall on it. His second thought was to scoop it up and run.

The second thought won out.

Nearhoof, the Mars junior quarterback, snatched teammate Josh Schultheis' fumble off the ground in mid-stride and beat Blackhawk defenders to the pylon for a touchdown.

It was a key play early in a 45-21 win by the Planets over the Cougars in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA high school football playoffs Friday night.

“That's an athlete making a great play,” said Mars coach Scott Heinauer.

To Nearhoof, it was just instinct.

“Before I knew it, I picked it up and was off,” Nearhoof said. “I saw a lot of green in front of me.”

It was a heads-up play that may have prevented a huge early game momentum swing.

Mars seized control from the opening kickoff as Alex Smith danced his way 66 yards down to the Blackhawk 13. Two plays later, Schultheis scored from the 7 for a 7-0 lead.

Mars was driving again after forcing a three-and-out from Blackhawk before disaster nearly struck.

But Nearhoof was there to save the day and turn a potential turnover into a 14-0 lead.

Mars tacked on another touchdown on a 25-yard run by Schultheis in the first quarter for a 21-0 lead before seven minutes had drained off the clock.

“We just wanted to silence some of the haters,” Nearhoof said. “We knew Blackhawk's offense was fantastic and their quarterback, Chandler (Kincade) is a beast. He has a gun. And with the receivers they have, we knew they could score quickly. We wanted to get up early on them and then put pressure on (Kincade).”

That's exactly what the Planets did.

Mars (9-1) led 28-0 after Schultheis broke through the line and raced untouched for a 43-yard score late in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the Planets' defense was terrorizing Kincade, sacking him four times in a little more than a quarter.

Blackhawk (3-7) struggled to run the ball to augment its passing game. Mars held the Cougars to 13 yards rushing in the first half and just 28 yards in the game on 21 attempts.

“We had some breaks go our way early,” Heinauer said. “We wanted to get some early scores and fortunately, we did that.”

Blackhawk, though, made things a bit tense for Mars.

The Cougars scored on a 6-yard pass from Kincade to Andrew Podbielski with 35 seconds remaining in the first half to cut the Mars lead to 28-7.

Blackhawk started the second half at its own 1 after a muffed kickoff return, but marched 99 yards, capped by a 2-yard plunge by Kincade, to trim the lead to 28-14.

When Kincade had time to throw, he was masterful, completing 22-of-35 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns.

His favorite target was Alex Caratelli, who had nine receptions for 172 yards and a score.

“Chandler, he's a great quarterback,” Heinauer said of Kincade, who is being recruited by several Division I schools, including Pitt. “I didn't want him to have the ball. We wanted to drive down the field running the ball and I think we did that.”

Schultheis scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a bullish 2-yard run to extend the Mars lead to 35-14. Matt White booted a 35-yard field goal and Jason Lozzi scored on a 17-yard run to put the game away.

Schultheis finished with 232 yards on 24 carries. He did fumble three times, but didn't lose any of them.

“That's unusual for him,” Heinauer said. “He usually is pretty good with the ball. We'll work on that this week.”

Mars will play West Mifflin, a 28-14 winner over Knoch, in the second round next week at a site to be determined.

“Overall, you have to be proud of our kids,” Heinauer said. “Our kids came out to play. We've done what we've set out to do at this point in time.”