Soccer, lacrosse titles lift Mars to Class 5A Trib Cup championship

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, July 11, 2021 | 12:01 AM

4034607_web1_GTR-3Aboysfinal10-112120 — Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review

The Mars boys soccer team celebrates with the PIAA Class 3A soccer championship trophy after defeating Northern, 2-1, in the state final Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, at Hersheypark Stadium.

4034607_web1_ptr-MarsCV2-052721 — Tribune-Review

The Mars Fightin’ Planets celebrate their 5th straight WPIAL Class 2A title on May 27, 2021 at Robert Morris’ Joe Walton Stadium.

4034607_web1_GTR-3Agirlsfinal09-112120 — Christopher Horner | Tribune-Review

The Mars girls soccer team celebrates with the PIAA Class 3A girls soccer championship trophy after defeating Villa Joseph Marie, 2-0, in the state final Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, at Hersheypark Stadium.

Thanks to a historic run in soccer and lacrosse this past school year, Mars’ climb to the top of the HSSN Trib Cup standings in Class 5A was out of this world.

The Fightin’ Planets swept district and state gold on the pitch by winning boys and girls WPIAL and PIAA championships in soccer.

After also winning WPIAL championships in boys and girls lacrosse, the Mars boys team made history when it became the first WPIAL lacrosse program to play in a state championship match.

TribLive HSSN’s Trib Cup is a yearlong competition to determine the top WPIAL sports program in each classification. It awards points for section or conference championships, district and state playoff berths and district and state championships and runners-up.

Schools earn points for playoff berths, section championships, PIAA playoff berths and for winning WPIAL or PIAA championships or for a district or state runner-up.

Mars also picked up points in football, boys and girls volleyball, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls basketball and baseball.

Despite the great start in the fall with soccer and the strong finish in spring with lacrosse, Mars had to hold off a late surge by Franklin Regional. The Panthers finished in second place, 30 points behind the Fightin’ Planets.

The closest school to the top two was Chartiers Valley. The third-place Colts were 150 points behind the runner-up Panthers.

Rounding out the Top 5 was Penn-Trafford in fourth place and South Fayette in fifth.

Final 2020-2021 HSSN Trib Cup standings in Class 5A

1. Mars – 530

2. Franklin Regional – 500

3. Chartiers Valley – 350

4. Penn-Trafford – 300

5. South Fayette – 270

6. Latrobe – 255

7. Thomas Jefferson – 250

8. Hampton – 230

9. Plum – 200