The Mars football team has its eyes on the Tri-County North title.

Center could very well unseat mighty Aliquippa in the Midwestern Conference this season.

Since this is a battle of two potential WPIAL Class AA conference champions, it should make for a very interesting matchup when the two teams clash at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Center High School's newly renovated football stadium.

Both teams are coming off positive performances last week.

Center disposed of Monaca 28-0, while Mars dropped a 27-25 affair to Class AAA power Pine-Richland.

In that contest, junior quarterback D.J. Cannon passed for 188 yards and two touchdowns.

"The more passes D.J. completes, the more confident he's going to get," said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. "And we've got kids who can catch the ball."

That group is led by senior wideout Tim Frye, who pulled in four receptions worth 59 yards and a score last week.

Mars' traditionally strong ground attack was effective as well, with Paul Ferrese rushing for 135 yards.

"We were able to pass the ball and run the ball effectively," said Heinauer. "If we can continue to do that, good things are going to happen for us."

"(Heinauer) and his staff can mix it up well on offense," said Center coach Larry Taddeo. "They should have won last week."

The bad news for Mars was that Pine-Richland was able to put up 355 yards of total offense in the game.

The task facing the Planets defense will get no easier this week, as Center sports one of the most dangerous running backs in all of the WPIAL - 6-foot, 200 pound senior Ashton Cobb, who has verbally committed to attend the University of Kentucky.

In 2004, Cobb gained 600 yards on the ground at 6½ yards a clip, along with six touchdowns.

He also plays safety, a position at which he earned All-Midwestern Conference honors in 2004.

"We're going to have our hands full on defense once again," said Heinauer.

But the Trojans' backfield is not a one-man show. In last week's shutout of Monaca, Center received four rushing touchdowns from three different players. Jeff Ciccone reeled off scoring runs of 55 and 60 yards, Maurice Carter scored from 44 yards out and Justin Saunders added a 9-yard touchdown run.

That solid corps of running backs should keep the pressure off junior quarterback Carl Farrow, a first-year starter.

"Carl was a sophomore last year and did get some snaps here and there," said Taddeo. "He worked very hard in the off-season."

Looking to play a big role in stopping Center's ground game will be Mars linebackers Dave Pisarcik, Matt Whittington and Pete King.

The two teams are certainly no strangers, having met in each of the last three seasons.

Center has won the last two meetings (48-21 last year and 34-7 in 2003), while Mars grabbed a 10-5 decision in 2002.

"Center always poses great competition for us," said Heinauer.