Andy Knauff has grown up with Mars soccer in his blood.

His oldest brother, Chris, played for the Mars Area High School team a decade ago, and another brother, Ben, helped lead the Planets to their first PIAA playoff berth before graduating in 2004.

Their father was the boys' first coach, having directed a club level team in Mars from youth through their teen years. Chris Knauff then joined the varsity team's coaching staff and is in his second season as the Planets' coach.

One then can imagine how much winning the school's first WPIAL Class AA boys' soccer title meant to Andy, a senior center midfielder. Mars defeated Thomas Jefferson, 3-2, for the title Saturday at Elizabeth Forward.

The Planets (18-2-2) then won their first-round game in the PIAA tournament Tuesday, outlasting Grove City, 1-0, in double overtime. They'll play Susquehannock of District 3 Saturday at a time and place to be determined.

"It's almost like a dream come true," he said. "Growing up in a soccer family, it's been a goal pretty much every year. Our dinner conversations have always been all about building toward the high school team hopefully winning a WPIAL championship. It's great to finally have it happen."

Mars entered the season after a year in which it advanced further in the WPIAL playoffs (semifinals) and PIAA tournament (championship game) than at any time in the program's history, which stretches nearly two decades.

The WPIAL championship was not all that unexpected, but the Planets didn't even win their section title. Mars was 8-2-2 in Section 2-AA, finishing behind Knoch (10-1-1), and entered the playoffs as a No. 6 seed.

After a 4-0 win against Hopewell in the first round, Mars avenged a regular-season defeat to Freeport with a 1-0 double-overtime triumph in the quarterfinals and a 3-2 win against South Park in the semifinals Oct. 28.

"I thought that [winning the WPIAL] was possible in the offseason," Chris Knauff said. "I knew what kind of talent we had back and we had been successful last year. But we had our ups and downs throughout the season. Losses against Freeport and Knoch were kind of the low points, but I know that on any day we can hang with any team. There isn't a team that has dominated us."

Junior forward Ryan McKenzie had a team-high 19 goals heading into the PIAA payoffs.

"He's the most dangerous forward we have and our fastest player," the coach said. "Most teams that know us try to match up their best defender with Ryan. He's the type of player who's going to keep working. ... It's hard for any team to deal with that kind of effort throughout the game."

McKenzie had all three Mars goals in the WPIAL semifinal victory. But in a show of the Planets' depth, he was shut out in the championship game, yet Mars still scored three times.

Much of that depth comes from a senior class that will go out with a WPIAL title in their final season. There are seven seniors on the team, although three had apparent season-ending injuries.

Starting forward Tim Frigot and Brendan Miller, the team's top reserve, both had torn ACL injuries. Frigot has been out since early in the season; Miller was hurt toward the end of the regular season. Starting defender Zach Miele injured his hip in the WPIAL final, and Knauff said he is likely out for the season.

Other seniors are Andy Knauff, a four-year letter-winner; center midfielder Scott Sowers and goalkeeper Joe Heafner, who have been starters; and defender Luke Salter.

"We've been playing together since we were young so we've developed great chemistry," Andy Knauff said. "We're really good friends off the field as well, and that's really helped in working off each other. It's made us a better team and better players."