Planets shut out Panthers
ADAMS TWP — The Franklin Regional team Mars coach Scott Heinauer saw at the start of Friday's game wasn't the one he saw last year.
Not that it proved to be too much of a problem in the Planets' 14-0 section win.
"Last year, they ran a no-huddle against us and this year they ran the spread," said Heinauer. "We just made some adjustments."
It apparently didn't hurt the Planets, who jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead with a dominating ground game that churned out 234 yards on 24 carries at the break.
Junior Austin Miele led the way with a career-high 229 yards — his first 200-yard game — on 27 carries. He rolled up 175 yards on 13 carries by halftime and scored the game's lone touchdowns.
"Our line set the tempo," Miele said. "They pushed them back and made big holes, and I was able to cut back."
Heinauer agreed — and that went for the defensive line as well.
"We controlled the line of scrimmage," the coach said. "The kids played hard. We hit 'em and hit 'em. That was the difference."
On the Planets' second possession of the game, Miele capped an 11-play, 71-yard drive with a spinning, 13-yard run with 1:01 left in the opening quarter.
At that point, Mars (4-2, 2-0) had rushed for 111 yards on 14 carries and seven first downs.
The next time the Mars offense took possession, it was on its own 15. But the Planets needed only four plays to reach the end zone.
A 5-yard run by Seth Geyer was followed by runs of 37, 14 and 29 yards by Miele to take a 14-0 lead with 8:32 left before halftime.
"We knew they had a good running back and we were very concerned," said Panthers coach Greg Botta. "We watched him on film from last year. The plays that hurt us were the plays that hurt us last year. Miele runs the ball downhill. We did a poor job tackling."
In the second half, the Panthers held the Planets down a bit, but 14 penalties for 112 yards — including 72 in the final two quarters — also hampered Mars.
On Mars' first series of the second half, consecutive holding penalties and a procedure penalty turned a promising drive into a punt.
The Panthers (4-2, 1-1) took over at their own 24 with 6:10 left in the third quarter. After 12 plays and a pass interference call against Mars, FR had a first-and-goal at the Mars 4 at the end of the third quarter.
However, quarterback Chad Bowman fumbled on the first play of the fourth quarter, and Miele recovered it to keep the shutout intact.
"That killed us. That was the momentum buster for us," said Botta.
"I have the utmost respect for Coach Botta and his program," said Heinauer. "We knew it would be a battle and knew we'd have to run the ball."
Notes: Mars held the Panthers' offense to 115 total yards. ... The shutout was the Planets' third in the past four games, having blanked Plum 27-0 Sept. 18 and Highlands 43-0 last week.
