Celebrate, Mars.

Celebrate for a long, long time. You’ve earned it.

That basketball community has accomplished something few have done before it.

Now that the smoke has cleared from the Planets’ boys and girls hoop runs to the state championship games, let’s take a deep breath and look at what we have here.

Mars became only the sixth WPIAL school to ever send its boys and girls basketball teams to the state finals in the same season. Aliquippa did it in 1989. Trinity turned the trick in 1992 and 2001, Blackhawk in 1999 and 2000.

Mount Lebanon sent both teams in 2011 and Seton-La Salle did so in 2014.

The Lady Planets became the first Butler County basketball team to win a state title since Karns City’s girls in 2000. The Planet boys — who also reached the state finals in 2016 — are the only county boys basketball team to reach the state title game since East Brady won it all in 1980.

These 2017-18 Mars teams did it with seasoned and longtime successful coaches. Rob Carmody has been the Mars boys coach for 20 years and is pushing 300 career victories.

Mars girls coach Dana Petruska has well over 400 wins in a coaching career that dates back to 1986. She won 286 games with the Planets from 1986 to 2005 before being forced out, then won 111 games at Deer Lakes before returning.

Three years into her second stint at Mars, she’s a state champion.

There could be the makings of a movie there, for goodness sakes.

The Mars boys and girls got there with star power and role players.

Robby Carmody’s career at Mars has been well-documented. He averaged 31 points per game this year. He scored 2,390 in his career, No. 7 on the WPIAL’s all-time list. He is headed to Notre Dame.

But he was far from a one-man show. Andrew Recchia, Cade Hetzler, Brandon Caruso and others all made critical plays at key times in regular season and postseason games to keep that team rolling to its first WPIAL title and to the brink of a state crown.

On the girls side, Lauren Wasylson is headed to Xavier, Tai Johnson has verbally committed to Bucknell. Yet Wasylson fouled out with more than six minutes left in the state title game and her team trailing. Johnson only had eight points before her game-winning play at the end.

Bella Pelaia, a sophomore, led Mars with 14 points in the title game. Nichole Sommers played stellar defense all year. Ellie Coffield, a freshman, provided quality minutes off the bench in that final game.

The list could go on.

Programs win championships.

Mars boys won the WPIAL. Mars girls won the PIAA. Well over 100 kids in that district are involved in youth basketball.

Celebrate, celebrate. Job well done.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle