Mars, Penn Hills set for Class 5A Northern Conference showdown

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 | 6:18 PM

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When Penn Hills visits Mars on Friday night, the Fightin’ Planets don’t want to be accommodating hosts.

Actually, they want to keep the ball away from the Indians as much as possible in an early WPIAL Class 5A Northern Conference showdown.

After all, Penn Hills (3-0, 1-0) is off to a productive start. The Indians have outscored their first three opponents, 117-27.

“It’ll be interesting. They have lots of speed and a lots of talent — more speed than we have, but that’s OK. You have to line up and play the game,” Mars coach Scott Heinauer said. “Our game is to take the air out of the ball and control it. We need to be able to do it against them. We have to be able to limit the amount of touches they get. They are explosive. Their wide receivers are very dangerous, so is their running back and their quarterback. From an offensive standpoint, they are very potent. It’ll be a challenge for our defense to stop these guys.”

Senior quarterback Hollis Mathis guides the Penn Hills offense. He leads Class 5A in passing with 652 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has run for 194 yards, as well.

“Their quarterback is a great athlete. He is the key to this whole team. When he thrives, they thrive, whether throwing the ball or running the ball. It all comes down to him,” Heinauer said. “They have weapons, but he has to get the ball to those people. I think he will be the focal point of our defense.”

Penn Hills coach Jon LeDonne knows that’s a popular strategy.

“Hollis is the catalyst of our offense. He has been the last two years. Our offense goes as Hollis goes,” he said. “We’ve been giving him a little more responsibility each week to check plays and use his vision to make audibles to make things happen. He is a special player and an even better leader in person.”

Mathis has plenty of options when he throws the ball. Anthony Grimes leads the squad with 11 catches for 143 yards. Daequan Hardy is next with seven catches for 188, while Dante Cephas (6-123) and Richard Martin (6-77) are popular targets, as well. Tank Smith paces the team with 225 yards on the ground.

“The biggest keys for us will be eliminating mental mistakes and breakdowns on defense,” LeDonne said. “They are very big up front. We have to make sure we do a good job tackling and reading our keys. On offense, we have to make sure we capitalize on the opportunities we have. We may be limited with the possessions we get, but we have to make sure we take advantage of every possession we have.”

Mars (3-0, 0-0) features a run-heavy wing-T offense that can be a challenge to defend.

“It’s something a lot of people don’t run. It’s tough to simulate this offense in a week’s time,” Heinauer said. “We have to do what we do best. We’re fortunate our kids know our system. We try to get good at what we do. We’re not going to come out with four wide receivers and try to spread teams out. That’s just not us.”

Senior Garrett Reinke has been the lead back. He paces the squad with 381 yards rushing.

“They are very big up front and have a very powerful running back. We talked about winning the box. Mars has done a pretty good job doing that in its first three games,” LeDonne said. “We need to play very disciplined, play our side of the football and concentrate on our keys in order to try to stop their offense. Mars is a quality opponent and a good test for us early on to see how we compare to teams in 5A. I am sure they will have the home crowd behind them. It’ll be a good test for us.”

Heinauer knows his team must not give Penn Hills any extra opportunities with the football.

“We have to be able to hold onto that ball. We can’t make turnovers because we know how lethal that could be,” he said. “We played a great game against Greensburg Salem last week, and I thought our kids played well. The first two weeks, we turned it over a lot and tried to give the games away. We can’t do that this week. This is a team that’ll make you pay. Defensively, we’re getting better and better each game. On big downs, we need to come up with a big play and get the ball back in the offense’s hands.”

Penn Hills reached the Class 6A semifinals last year in LeDonne’s first season at the helm. The Indians hope to contend for the Class 5A title this year.

“Coming into a new conference gives us a chance to start some new rivalries,” LeDonne said. “We want to go out and perform the way we are capable of. At the end of the day, we will use this as a learning tool for getting better down the road.”

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.

Tags: Mars, Penn Hills