Highlight-reel goal helps Mars boys soccer advance past Penn-Trafford in WPIAL 1st round

By: Greg Macafee
Saturday, October 18, 2025 | 4:12 PM

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Mars senior Max Davis has attempted several bicycle kicks during his high school career. He’s come close a few times but never put the ball in the back of the net.

Until Saturday.

With his team trailing by a goal in its WPIAL Class 3A first-round matchup against No. 10 Penn-Trafford at the Mars Athletic Complex, Davis made a last-second decision as senior Logan Coone sent a header from the left post back across the Warriors’ goal mouth.

“I was trying to go for a header, but I saw it was a little behind me, so I had to twist the body,” Davis said.

The next thing he knew, the ball was in the net and the shifty forward was celebrating in the corner with his teammates. It was the type of spark the seventh-seeded Fightin’ Planets needed as they went on to pull out a 2-1 victory on their home turf.

“That’s maybe the best high school goal I’ve seen,” Mars coach Chris Knauff said. “I mean, that was an incredible goal. He’s a player that likes the flair, and he’s gone for a couple of those this year and just missed. I’m happy that he was able to pull one off.”

The Fightin’ Planets (12-5-2) will now prepare for No. 2 Bethel Park (13-2-3), which defeated Knoch, 6-0, on Saturday. They’ll play Wednesday at Bethel Park at a time to be determined.

After a back-and-forth affair in the first 24 minutes Saturday, 10th-seeded Penn-Trafford struck first.

The Warriors received a throw-in deep in Mars’ defensive third. Sophomore midfielder Dominick Daykon launched the ball into the middle of the box, where he found sophomore Lucas Slacker flying above a group of players.

Slacker headed the ball past Mars goalkeeper Eli Stasiowski to give his team a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the season.

“We work on those quick little crosses to be dangerous, and a sophomore got up high and got the header, which was awesome,” Penn-Trafford coach Ryan Hankey said.

Davis struck just over six minutes later with a goal he’ll surely never forget. The Fightin’ Planets received a free kick around midfield, and Stasiowski delivered a ball to Coone on the far post.

Stasiowski has been dangerous with those types of kicks all season and scored a goal in a similar situation during Mars’ 2-1 win over Shaler on Tuesday.

“That’s a goalie’s nightmare,” Knauff said of Stasiowski’s free kicks. “You’re looking into the sun, a 50-yard ball is coming at you, and you have players around you. So, we know how difficult that can be to defend, and we’re just trying to put them in uncomfortable spots and see what happens.”

Mars gained momentum after that and locked down their defensive end. Penn-Trafford did have a few opportunities, but Stasiowski and the defense were able to turn back any close chances.

The Fightin’ Planets had their final offensive breakthrough just over 12 minutes into the second half when Davis found Coone with a through ball into the 18-yard box. The senior midfielder took a quick touch and slipped one past Penn-Trafford goalkeeper Jose Chaves to give his team the lead for good.

“He played me to feet, and he wanted it back,” Davis said. “I kinda took a bad touch, but I had to go around the guy. I saw him running through, and I knew he doesn’t miss those. He took a great touch and had a great finish.”

The Warriors created a few close opportunities in the final 10 minutes of the game but couldn’t find the equalizer as the Mars defense hunkered down.

“Kudos to them. It took two awesome goals,” Hankey said. “I mean, I thought we actually had more opportunities than them. From the one-on-one down here to the other one in the first half. We have to put them away, and then it’s a whole different game.”

The Fightin’ Planets advance, and Knauff gets another opportunity to lead his team. The longtime Mars coach intends to step away at the end of the year after coaching the program for 19 seasons and leading it to three WPIAL titles and a PIAA championship in 2020.

Knauff said he isn’t stepping away for good, but he’ll be gone for “a little bit.” That makes this run special for Knauff and gives his players a little extra motivation as they head into the quarterfinals.

“We gotta do it for ourselves and we gotta do it for him,” Davis said. “Obviously, we want to go all the way. So, that’s the goal.”

For the Warriors, their season ends with an overall record of 10-8. They finished third in Section 3-3A play after splitting their final six games of the regular season. That run included section wins over West Mifflin and Uniontown but a crucial 1-0 loss to Latrobe in their final section matchup.

“We just had a few mental errors throughout the season, and they were costly goals,” Hankey said. “But, again, we didn’t have one stud player. We had, I think, three guys with eight goals, and a couple with four or five. So it was a balanced attack. It wasn’t going through one specific person. So we were kinda always trying to play together and work as a team.”

“I’m definitely proud of the team. They left it all out on the field.”

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Mars, Penn-Trafford