JEFFERSON TWP — Joe Horvat dodged a defender and fired a well-placed shot between Knoch goaltender Jarret John's legs.

After a slow start, Horvat and the Mars boys lacrosse team's offense were humming.

The Planets scored five goals over an 8-minute stretch in the third quarter during a 12-7 Division II-Section 3 win over the Knights Wednesday at Knoch.

Scoring in barrages has been a staple for Mars (7-3, 4-0) this season. Long stretches without scoring has also been an issue.

The Planets led 3-2 at halftime, but the Knights evened the game 15 seconds later on a goal by Davis Miller, his third of the game.

“Coach really gave it to us at halftime. So we knew we needed to come out strong and that's what we did,” Horvat said. “He said we weren't playing to our full capability, so we had to go out there and play like we know how to do.”

Zac Sicher put the Planets ahead for good 32 seconds later, catching a pass in front of the net and pushing it past John, who finished with 10 saves. Blake Thompson, Horvat (two) and Sicher scored to put Mars ahead 8-3 with 3:40 left in the quarter.

“We start slow and then we catch fire real quick. It's been like that all year and it's frustrating because it's not consistent,” Mars coach Justin Karam said. “Against Vincentian we were up 5-0 then scored four goals in 30 seconds.”

Knoch (2-6, 1-3) didn't let the run slow them down. Instead, the Knights responded with three goals from Mitchell Bachman. After Peyton Maziarz scored with 10:11 remaining in the game, Knoch was only down 8-7.

“They played harder than we did. We've had spurts this year where we don't play the way we're capable of playing,” Karam said. “A lot of it is the grass field, we don't play well on grass.”

Owen Vasbinder scored his second goal for Mars to stop the run with 7:45 left. Then Ben Lewis made a run at the net with a Knoch defender draped all over him to put the Planets ahead 10-7 with 3:18 left.

“I think we let up a little bit going into it,” Horvat said. “Every time they would come back into it, we knew we had to fight back. We fought back when we needed to.”

Blake Thompson and Jake Porter also scored for Mars to put the game out of reach.

“They have good players who know how to shoot,” Knoch coach Nathan Barthlow said. “Their goalie kept them in it and they moved the ball well. That's what helped them a lot.”

In the first half, neither team had much luck finding the back of the net. Miller gave Knoch its only lead, scoring off an assist from J.J. Curry with 4:56 left in the first quarter.

“Defensively, we were sticking with our man and paying attention to where we needed to be,” Barthlow said.

Porter tied the game and Horvat scored with 10.7 seconds remaining to give Mars a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Vasbinder made sure the Planets were ahead at halftime. Shooting from about 10 yards out, Vasbinder sent a wicked shot into the upper corner to put Mars ahead 3-2.

Karam was pleased with how his team battled.

“It's good for these guys, because they play really tough,” Karam said. “Two years in, we only have one section loss and it does say a lot about how hard these guys work and where they are at.”