Mars’ Blair Gerlach wins national coach of year award

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, December 18, 2020 | 1:38 PM

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Most people will be more than happy to throw away calendars from 2020 and hang a new docket on the wall.

While the year has been downright revolting to the masses, it has been pretty good to Mars girls soccer coach Blair Gerlach.

The leader of the Fightin’ Planets received another lofty honor as he was named the United Soccer Coaches Large School Girls Soccer National Coach of the Year.

Gerlach guided Mars back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA championships. He also was the state coach of the year in Class AAA by the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association, the first repeat winner in the classification since the award’s inception in 1997.

Mars finished 22-0 and won 41 straight games before finishing the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by the USC.

The Planets gave up only five goals all season, none across seven playoff games.

They ended the season with nine straight shutouts.

Earlier this year, Gerlach was the recipient of the High School Coach of Significance Award for Pennsylvania.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Mars