Welcome to Rodney’s Rundown. “Unfiltered takes and real conversations.”
Mars Varsity Girls Lacrosse
In pursuit of a fourth straight WPIAL Class 2A championship, the Lady Planets (18-1) rolled past Oakland Catholic 23-1 in the quarterfinals Monday night.
Before the game, Rodney Phillips brought the national championship Mars mascot “Meatball” to practice — and the team embraced the playoff atmosphere.
The team loved celebrating with the “Meatball.”
“The girls are highly motivated and focused,” explained assistant coach Mara Fuller.
“They want to go further than any Mars team has gone before,” head coach Abby Latona said.
The top seeded three-time district champion Mars defeated No. 8 Oakland Catholic 23-1.
From the opening face-off it was all Mars. 9 seconds into the matchup, junior Hailey Long, scored the first of her four goals.
“We try not to underestimate teams and we didn’t underestimate them,” Latona explained. “We just want to play our game, no matter who we play against.”
Freshman Lola Seideneck wound the mercy clock in the first quarter with a goal with 4:04 remaining.
The Lady Planets will advance to take on No. 4 South Fayette that beat No. 5 Franklin Regional by a score of 15-4 on Monday May 18th at 8:00 PM at North Allegheny High School.
“One of the things that we want to do is to play fast and smart,” Latona said after the game. “When we can do that in the first few minutes of a game, it gives us good momentum.”
The Lady Planets made the game 15-0 early into the second quarter at 3:21 when Seideneck gathered her hat-trick.
“Lola is really good at reading the ball mid-air, having her on restraining line to grab any clears has been huge this season,” assistant coach Naomi Grus said.
Three juniors led the team in scoring, Lucy Balasz and Long both had four goals, while Katie Blake had a game-high seven goals.
Katie Blake has been relying on her quick first step to get the upper hand on defenders.
“Katie has really taken off for us this year,” Latona said. “She is a huge part of our attack, and when she has the ball, the goalies need to watch out.”
“Offensively, we are playing fast and together,” junior captain Hailey Long explained.
Long and senior captain Anna McGrath combined for 14 draw controls, which amplified Mars’ dominance. Eight for Hailey Long and six draw controls for McGrath.
Senior captain Anna McGrath also added two goals, fellow captain and sister Tess McGrath had a goal with Jenna Smith and Reanna Kolarcik-Schmitt adding a goal apiece to round out the scoring for Mars.
“Jenna Smith and Lola Seideneck on the ride were both crucial for us,” assistant coach Naomi Grus explained. “Jenna is very good at seeing the entire field, I often call her the clean up girl because she’s almost always the first one to grab any loose balls that would turn into a potential turnover and get us back into a new set.”
Junior mid-fielder Lucy Balasz hit 150 draw controls having multiple games this season where she has had double digit draw controls.
Sophomore Niki Lefcakis joined the 50/50 club by surpassing 50 caused turnovers and 50 ground balls. Her relentless pressure and her ability to show up consistently defensively has been huge for the team this season.
“Success doesn’t just happen,” senior captain Anna McGrath explained. “You have to work for it.”
Mars Boys Lacrosse
The nine-time WPIAL Class 2A champion Mars Fightin’ Planets are ranked third in the section behind Hampton Talbots (2) and Peters Township Indians (1). It is the first time in nine years that the team hasn’t held the number one seed.
In the quarterfinals, the Planets faced the No. 6 Bethel Park Black Hawks and barely escaped with an 8-7 hard-fought victory.
It took a huge game on the line faceoff win from senior Josh Wilburn with 35.9 seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter. Wilburn took a severe stick beating from the opponents running down the offensive sideline to secure the victory for the Fightin’ Planets.
Wilburn went won 14 of 18 faceoffs from the dot to help control the game for Mars.
“I’m just happy that we scored one more goal than them and are moving on to face Hampton,” Wilburn explained after the game. “We stuck together and continued to play our game.”
“Josh has been steady for us all year,” coach Kyle Savage said.
Reed Fuller, who had a hat trick led the team for Mars scoring two of the first three goals for the Planets. He opened the scoring at 9:41 in the first quarter and scored his second goal with 2:46 left on the clock in the quarter.
Long Stick Middie, senior Chase Lamm (#10) scored a pole goal at 7:43 of the first quarter.
Senior Grant Weaver (#9) assisted senior Jack Tirch (#22) on man-up for the first of his two goals at 2:40 of the second quarter to give Mars a 4-0 lead at halftime.
After the game, Connor Long said, “I’m happy that I was able to score the two goals, because their goalie was hot.”
The Black Hawks showed tremendous resilience on two separate occasions by erasing four-goal deficits.
To start the third quarter Bethel Park scored three consecutive quick goals to cut the Mars lead to 4-3.
Attackman #18 Charles Hegedus opened the scoring for Bethel Park at 11:41 of the third quarter.
Grant Weaver scored an unassisted goal at 6:34 to break the Bethel Park momentum followed by a huge on the doorstep save by senior goalie David Renner at 5:46.
Mars scored the final four goals of the 3rd quarter, two goals by Connor Long (#26) and Jack Tirch tallied his second.
Bethel Park’s sophomore goalie Keith Peters kept them in contention with 10 impressive saves.
With the score 8-4 Mars to start the 4th quarter, Bethel Park made another huge push, holding the Planets to no goals and scoring another three of their own to cut the Mars lead to 8-7 before Wilburn captured the final crucial faceoff win to secure the victory for Mars.
“Tonight, we played solid and good enough to win,” Marcoux explained.
Senior Gavin Edkins led the Black Hawks offense with four goals.
Bethel Park had a goal waved off in the 4th quarter when their attackman went into the crease. Although the away fans were not happy with call, the offensive player was clearly in the crease when he banged in the rebound.
The Mars scoring was as follows: Reed Fuller (3G), Jack Tirch (2G), Connor Long (2G), Grant Weaver (1G, 2A) and Chase Lamm (1G).
The Mars Fightin’ Planets move on to face the No. 2 seed Hampton Talbots on Monday May 18th at 6:00 PM at Avonworth High School in the WPIAL Class 2A Semifinals.
Mars Baseball Takes Heartbreaking Loss
Baseball: The No. 14 seed Mars Area High School Varsity Baseball Team’s playoff run ended abruptly on May 12th.
After soaring to 11 runs in the game before, the Fightin’ Planets couldn’t get the bats going in a low scoring loss to the No. 3 seed Thomas Jefferson Jaguars 3-2.
The loss dropped the Mars record to 9-12 on the season.
Mars third baseman Grady Speigle (#14) had two hits, including a double in the playoff game.
Thomas Jefferson loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh in the WPIAL Class 5A high school baseball first round before Justin Fry hit a walk-off RBI single at Boyce Mayview Park.
The Planets were trailing 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning when Logan Creighan doubled in Tyler Rennebeck to tie the score.
Braden Schmitt pitched a solid complete game for the Fightin’ Planets, striking out three, walking tow, and only allowing three runs on nine hits. He has been a workhorse for Mars this year.
Mars Coed Track & Field
Last week Mars Track and Field saw two records fall!
Mars senior Colton Rearick broke the 1600M and one mile school record at the Pine-Richland Invitational with times of 4:20.33 (1600) and 4:21.88 (One Mile). These records were previously held by Zach Leachman from 2019.
Senior Riley Carrel also broke her own Pole Vault record at the Northern Area Last Chance Meet with 9 feet, 9.5 inches and then again, the following day at the Fairview Last Chance Invitational with a vault of 10 feet, which stamped her ticket to the WPIALS.
Upcoming events: Friday May 22nd and Saturday May 23rd Coed Varsity PIAA Championship at Shippensburg University.
