Adjectives attempting to describe a certain sequence of events were tossed around the Mars locker room with endless glee last night.

Seth Geyer called it ridiculous.

A teammate labeled it insane.

Planets coach Scott Heinauer dubbed it "the key to the whole game."

All the words, though, inevitably led to the same result -- a hard-fought Mars victory and a conference title.

Buoyed by a huge goal-line stand by its salty defense in the closing minutes, Mars went on the road and pulled out a huge 7-3 win against Knoch, earning the Planets a share of the Class AAA Greater Allegheny Conference title.

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The Planets (6-3, 4-1) finished tied atop the standings with Franklin Regional (7-2, 4-1). Knoch (3-6, 2-3), which was looking for its first conference championship since 1992, finished third, but still received a playoff berth.

The Mars defensive unit -- ranked No. 3 in Class AAA in scoring defense entering the game -- put the stamp on the win and the title by thwarting the Knights on four attempts from the 1-yard line midway through the final quarter.

With Mars ahead, 7-3, Knoch quarterback Kyler Kenyon found James Zellhart on a 31-yard pass that moved the ball to the Mars 1-yard line. After three consecutive unsuccessful quarterback sneaks, the Knights came out in the wishbone on fourth down, but John Dewalt's run to the right was stopped.

"We did a great job of stopping him," Heinauer said. "Our kids up front, they just weren't going to be denied."

After Mars ran away most of the remaining time, Knoch could only move the ball to its 45 in a last-gasp effort.

The Planets also made a gigantic defensive stand on the last play of the fourth quarter when Brandon Williams forced a fumble when Knoch had a second-and-goal at the Mars 5.

"We had the ball down twice on the goal line," Knoch coach Mike King said. "We have to capitalize when we're down there and we didn't. That's the tale of the game."

The Planets won despite losing standout running back Austin Miele to a hamstring injury late in the first half. Miele, who finished with 42 yards on 10 carries, later returned to play defense and Heinauer said he expects him to be ready for next week's playoff opener.

Geyer provided all the points the Planets needed, scoring on a 1-yard run several minutes into the second quarter, which came after a Knoch field goal.

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