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ADAMS TWP — This is what a “friendly rivalry” looks like.
Mars players and fans jubilant at their home field, music blaring outside the locker room.
Knoch players saddened, their head coach slowly helping his limping quarterback out of the stadium and to the bus bound for Saxonburg.
Someone has to go home a winner and someone a loser.
And Friday night at the Mars Athletic Complex, it was the Fightin' Planets by 14-13 over the Knights, the difference coming down to an extra point kick.
Mars won for the first time this season after six losses overall and three in the Greater Allegheny Conference.
“We did a great job tonight, something we have not done,” Planets' coach Scott Heinauer said. “We got some turnovers, made some big plays. That's something we obviously needed to do, something we haven't done.”
Mars broke out a superb downfield passing attack that had not been seen much this season. Quarterback Rafael Bartley passed for 227 yards, hitting 13 of 19 attempts, including the Planets' two scoring strikes: 47 yards to Aiden Alessio with 2:50 remaining in the second quarter and 46 yards to Noah Nesselroad with 12 seconds left in the third period.
Bartley also had completions of 48 yards to Hunter Hart and 37 to Hayden Mayer. He was hitting his receivers in stride and acknowledged after the game that it was his best night passing.
“He threw the ball well,” Heinauer said. “If it's open, we'll take a shot down the field.”
Mars stepped up its passing game out of some necessity. Its top running back, Evan Wright, was along the sideline, not in pads and his injured left foot in a boot. Heinauer said hopefully Wright will be able to return next week.
Injuries also affected Knoch, which fell to 1-3 in the conference and 2-5 overall. Running back Keagan Fraser carried six times for 49 yards, but was out after the first quarter. Then, quarterback Carson Kosecki was injured at the end of the third quarter and also did not return.
“Keagan's ankle got rolled up on and it's sprained,” a dejected Knights coach Brandon Mowry said. “He wasn't able to put enough weight on it to go. Carson was just cramping and just couldn't get it worked out. It was rough without those guys, there's no doubt.”
Knoch turned to Gavin McGowan, who ran up 82 yards in 18 carries with some strong running. Before his injury, Fraser posted 49 yards in only six tries, including a 7-yard run to start the scoring with 5:09 left in the first quarter.
After Mars tied the score on the Bartley-to-Alessio pass play, the Knights' Codi Mullen answered back by intercepting Bartley and taking it in 40 yards for a touchdown with 10:45 left in third quarter. However, the extra point attempt failed.
“It's one of those things,” Mowry said. “There's three phases and if you don't take care of one it's going to kill you. And it did tonight.”
While Mars excelled in the passing phase, it managed only 47 yards on 26 carries without its injured leading rusher.
And Knoch did very little with the passing game, gaining only 11 yards, a fact its coach attributed to losing Fraser and Kosecki.
The Knights, who won by a point a week ago, will travel to Plum next Friday.
Mars returns to action at Greensburg Salem.
“We needed to have a game like this,” Heinauer said of Friday's first victory. “We've been overdue. It's good for our kids. We struggled. This is something we can hang our hat on a little bit and move forward and get the monkey off our back.”
Knoch 7 0 6 0 — 13
Mars 0 7 7 0 — 14
First Quarter
K — Carson Kosecki 7 run (Brendan Tristani kick), 5:09
Second Quarter
M — Aiden Alessio 47 pass from Rafael Bartley (Mason Childress kick), 2:50
Third Quarter
K — Codi Mullen 40 interception return (kick failed), 10:45
M — Noah Nesselroad 46 pass from Bartley (Childress kick), :12
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Knoch, Gavin McGowan 18-82, Carson Kosecki 19-62, Keagan Fraser 6-49. Mars, Finn Seideneck 18-32, Rafael Bartley 8-15.
Passing: Knoch, Carson Kosecki 1-3-11-0. Mars, Rafael Bartley 13-19-227-1.
Receiving: Knoch, Jake Murphy 1-11. Mars, Noah Nesselroad 5-65, Aiden Alessio 3-64, Hart Hunter 2-56, Seideneck 3-22.
