How is this for a success story?

During the fall and winter sports seasons of this academic year, Mars High School has taken two teams to the WPIAL championship games, winning one.

The Planets have sent three other teams to the WPIAL semifinals and their hockey team will play for the Class AA Penguins Cup Monday night at the UPMC Lemieux Complex.

That’s not bad.

Consider these six teams — football, boys and girls soccer, hockey, boys and girls basketball — have combined for a 103-27-3 record and it’s even better.

As successful as these teams have been, four narrow losses prevented this run of success from going even higher.

Mars’ football team was 10-2 last fall and faced Central Valley in the semifinals. The Planets were without top running back Isaiah Johnson due to injury, but still battled Central Valley hard before succumbing in a 48-41 loss.

While the Mars girls soccer team won the WPIAL championship while posting a 17-3 record, the Planet boys also reached the district title game, only to drop a 3-2 decision to South Fayette in a game that could have gone either way.

Still, Mars boys finished at 19-4-1 on the year.

Moving into the winter sports season, the Mars boys basketball team reached the WPIAL semifinal round, only to lose a 59-58 verdict to Beaver Falls. Sophomore Robby Carmody, who has already attracted interest from Division I programs all over the country, missed a potentially game-tying free throw at the end of the game.

The Mars girls basketball squad, which also reached the WPIAL semifinals, lost even more of a heartbreaker in the state tournament.

The Planets were seemingly headed for an upset win over Mercyhurst Prep in Erie as Lauren Wasylson sank two free throws for a three-point lead over the Lakers with a scant four seconds left.

Emily Shopene drained a desperation shot from half-court at the buzzer to force overtime, however, and the Planets wound up with a 50-45 loss.

The 2015-16 year isn’t the only successful season for any of these programs, of course. They’ve all been winning for a while. And a lot of that comes down to stability.

Scott Heinauer’s resume as football coach at Mars speaks for itself. He’s been coaching the Planets for far longer than any other football coach in Butler County has been at a respective school.

Chris Knauff and Blair Gerlach are at the helms of soccer powerhouses at Mars. Dana Petruska returned to run the Planets’ girls basketball program this season, a consistently winning program she had built and maintained for years.

Rob Carmody benefits from an incredible feeder system in boys basketball. There are more than 100 boys playing youth basketball in the district.

There is a reason why some schools seem to win most of the time. They are constructed to do so.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle