ADAMS TWP — A little role reversal can be fun.

Mars had a blast with it Saturday night at the Mars Athletic Complex, using its offense to prevent Knoch from getting the football while watching its defense score twice in the second half.

It all added up to a 23-12 high school football win for the Planets before a standing room only crowd. Mars claimed its second consecutive Greater Allegheny Conference title. The loss denied Knoch its first perfect regular season and its initial outright conference crown since 1992.

"This was a physical game and we knew it would be," Knoch coach Mike King said. "It came down to a few plays."

It also came down to typical Mars football at the end.

The Planets (8-1, 6-0) watched the Knights creep within 21-12 when Ky Kenyon found Dakota Bruggeman down the left sideline for a 36-yard touchdown strike with 11:19 left in the game. A two-point conversion pass failed.

Mars then ran off 15 plays, eating 8:50 off the clock while netting 29 yards of field position.

"That's how we play," Planets coach Scott Heinauer said. "We knew we had to do that. At that point, just keep the ball away from them."

By the time Knoch (8-1, 5-1) regained possession, only 2:29 remained as a punt died on the Knights' 10-yard line.

On second down from there, Bruggeman was sacked in the end zone for a safety by Seth Geyer and Zack Zwigart.

"We thought we found something with our four receivers on the field (before the Bruggeman TD catch) and we wanted to get back to that," King said. "We just couldn't get the ball."

Mars had a 7-6 lead at halftime — a high snap costing the Knights their PAT — in a game that saw players from both sides hobble off the field at times.

James Zellhart recovered an Austin Miele fumble at midfield early in the third quarter. Knoch drove to the Mars 26-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs from there.

Miele was held to 78 yards on 26 carries, but made a lunging 48-yard catch late in the second quarter that led to his own 2-yard scoring run and the Mars lead it never lost.

After a 37-yard TD run by Geyer — set up by Eric Guzak's 36-yard bomb to Aaron Lozzi — gave the Planets a 14-6 lead with 2:14 left in the third quarter, the Mars defense got in on the act.

Josh Pinkerton laid a hit on Knoch tailback Andrew Rumburg-Goodlin that forced a fumble. Miele recovered it. Falling toward the turf, he flipped the ball back to lineman Zwigart.

Zwigart rumbled 40 yards for the back-breaking touchdown.

"I got yelled at for doing that," Miele said of the pitch. "But as I was falling, I saw him standing there looking at me, so I gave him the ball.

"It was nice seeing a lineman score a touchdown."

Heinauer couldn't hide a grin as he talked about the play.

"I didn't know what he (Miele) was doing," the coach said. "But he's a heads-up football player. Big players come up with big plays in big games. That's what that was."

Miele went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the third straight year, becoming the first running back in Mars history to do so.

He'll take the back-to-back conference titles first.

"Without a doubt," he said. "This is a team thing."

Both teams missed scoring chances early. A holding penalty cost Knoch a first down at the Mars 16 on its first possession. The Knights wound up turning the ball over on downs.

Mars' Ryan Gralish was wide left on a 33-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter.

"That first half, in terms of giving up yardage and not moving the ball, was probably our worst of the season," Heinauer said. "We were missing our assignments on defense.

"We corrected that in the second half and fared much better."

Mars 23, Knoch 12Knoch 0 6 0 6 — 12Mars 0 7 14 2 — 23K M12 First Downs 1236-131 Rushes-Yards 41-13589 Passing Yards 1106-16-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 4-10-0210 Total Yards 2452-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-12-15 Penalties-Yards 2-15

Second QuarterK — Adam Tuzikow 1 run (kick failed), 11:18M — Austin Miele 2 run (Ryan Gralish kick), :18

Third QuarterM — Seth Geyer 37 run (Gralish kick), 2:14M — Zack Zwigart 40 fumble return (Gralish kick), :36

Fourth QuarterK — Dakota Bruggeman 36 pass from Ky Kenyon (pass failed), 11:19M — Bruggeman tackled in end zone for safety, 2:19

Individual StatisticsPassing: Knoch, Ky Kenyon 6-16-89-1. Mars, Eric Guzak 4-10-110-0.

Rushing: Knoch, Ky Kenyon 11-44, Andrew Rumburg-Goodlin 11-43, Adam Tuzikow 13-52, Dakota Bruggeman 1-(-10). Mars, Eric Guzak 4-(-2), Austin Miele 26-78, Seth Geyer 11-59.

Receiving: Knoch, Jonathan Firouzi 1-24, Dakota Bruggeman 4-52, Alex Strezeski 1-13. Mars, Seth Geyer 1-17, Austin Miele 1-48, Aaron Lozzi 2-45.