SOUTH FAYETTE TWP — Turnovers helped Mars.

Then they hurt the Planets.

Badly.

A strip sack and an interception on consecutive Mars’ possessions in the first half set South Fayette up inside the Planets’ 10 and the Lions capitalized quickly on both miscues to turn a close game into a 21-7 advantage.

Meanwhile, the Mars offense sputtered mightily in a 35-14 loss Friday night in a key road section game at South Fayette.

“They played our game. They out-physicaled us,” said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. “We had opportunities early. They turned the ball over uncharacteristically. We had opportunities, but we squandered those away.”

Isaiah Johnson made more of an impact on defense than he did on offense, picking off two passes in the first quarter for Mars. The safety, known more for his running prowess as a fullback in the Planets’ wing-T attack, returned the second interception 82 yards for a touchdown to put Mars ahead 7-0.

It was the most running room Johnson had all game as South Fayette bottled up the senior fullback and defending Butler Eagle Scoring Trophy champion, holding him to just 20 yards on 11 carries in the first half.

Johnson did finish with 84 yards on 25 carries, but a bulk of his yardage came once the game was already out of reach.

Johnson, though, undercut a route and picked off South Fayette quarterback Drew Saxton at the Mars 18 for his second interception of the first quarter and weaved his way down the right sideline for the touchdown.

For a time, it masked the Planets’ problems.

“We were in good shape, but you know what, we didn’t do what we needed to do to win the game,” Heinauer said.

Garrett Reinke didn’t have much success, either, against the stout South Fayette defense. He had just 12 yards on six carries in the first half and finished with 38 yards on 12 attempts.

Mars (1-1, 0-1) rushed for a mere 24 yards on 20 carries in the first two quarters.

After a slow start, Saxton got into a rhythm with short, crisp passes.

“Experience,” said South Fayette coach Joe Rossi. “He didn’t panic. Last year, maybe he would have, but not this year. He settled down nicely.”

The junior found six different receivers and tossed three TD passes in the first half after his two-interception first quarter.

He found Camron Garland all alone in the left corner of the end zone for a 15-yard score midway through the second quarter to tie the score at 7-7.

After a strip sack by Ray Eldridge gave the Lions the ball at the Mars’ 9, Saxton hit Noah Plack for a 7-yard score to give the Lions the 14-7 lead.

Geavonie Love then intercepted Mars senior quarterback Noah Wright and returned it to the Planets’ 5. On the next play, Saxton found Dan Trimbur on a fade to the back right corner of the end zone for a 21-7 halftime lead for the Lions (2-0, 1-0), who notched their 39th consecutive regular season victory.

Saxton was 12 of 19 for 152 yards in the first two quarters and finished 15 of 24 for 189 yards and four touchdowns.

He found Trimbur again on another perfectly executed fade pattern for a 14-yard score to make it 28-7 late in the third quarter.

Trimbur committed to play football at Cornell this week.

“It was a great night for him,” Rossi said.

It wasn’t such a great night for Wright, who struggled in his second start after not playing football until this season. He completed his first two passes of the game, 13- and 23-yard connections with Ben Perdziola for first downs, but misfired badly on his next eight attempts, including three INTs.

He was replaced by sophomore Tyler Kowalkowski, who connected on a 28-yard pass to Reinke for a late Mars touchdown.

Kowalkowki was 2 of 3 for 32 yards.

“It is what it is,” Heinauer said.

South Fayette also had success running the ball. Love finished with 110 yards on just 10 carries and Johnny Beck added 73 yards on five attempts, including a 50-yard touchdown run that made it 35-7 midway through the fourth quarter.

But Rossi was more pleased with how his defense stopped the run.

“Our offense always gets a lot of attention, but our defense did a good job,” Rossi said. “Mars has two really good backs and we did a good job slowing them down.”

For Mars, history has repeated itself.

The Planets lost an early section game last season to Franklin Regional and then ran the table.

Heinauer is hoping for a repeat.

“We gotta suck it up. Hopefully we’ve learned our lesson,” Heinauer said. “We’re capable of doing what we did last year.”