Seeing yellow
ADAMS TWP — Mars running back Ori Rinaman took the pitch and darted to the far sideline. Evading tacklers left and right, he reached open field and turned on the afterburners to cruise 76 yards to paydirt.
But there was a flag all the way back near the line of scrimmage — an all too familiar sight for the Planets on Friday night.
Penalties and turnovers plagued the Planets the entire game, with a final interception in the waning minutes sealing their fate in a 21-15 loss to Franklin Regional at the Mars Athletic Complex.
With less than three minutes left in the game, Mars (1-2, 1-2) took control at its own 2 yard line needing a touchdown and extra point to pull off the comeback. Quarterback Jake Rosswog engineered the drive deep into Panthers territory with precise passing, giving the Planets a chance.
On third-and-3 from the Franklin Regional 25, Rosswog took the snap and found himself under heavy pressure. He scrambled right and managed to get a throw away before taking the sack, but the ball hung in the air long enough for Panther defensive back Jacob Ross to slide in front of the receiver and make the interception to give Franklin Regional (2-1, 2-1) a key Greater Allegheny Conference victory.
The turnover for the Planets was their third of the game, while they racked up six penalties that totaled 75 yards. Most of those mistakes either cost Mars points or led to Franklin Regional scores.
“We can't do that,” Planets coach Scott Heinauer said. “We talked about it at halftime. We fumbled the ball, doing stupid things. We know. Our kids are well aware of that.
“Our kids played hard, there's no question about that. They played hard, too. It was a hard-fought football game. They just fought a little harder than us tonight.”
The Panthers jumped out to a 21-8 lead early in the second half after capitalizing off a Mars turnover. Star running back Brett Zanotto's third touchdown of the game capped a 54-yard drive.
Zanotto showed no ill effects from an early season injury that sidelined him against Knoch, scoring three times on just 14 carries.
He also was all over the field on defense, making tackles from sideline to sideline and consistently stuffing runs at the line of scrimmage.
Franklin Regional coach Greg Botta said Zanotto is a leader on his football team and is a big reason the Panthers were able to slide by a tough opponent like Mars.
“I told them, there were three factors of winning this football game and one was making the fewest mistakes, and we did that,” Botta said. “This is probably the best game we had as far as making mistakes.”
Mars, on the other hand, continued to move the ball on the ground behind Rinaman, who has stepped in for the injured Josh Schultheis.
Rinaman ran for 143 yards on 26 carries and also tossed a 50-yard pass to Nathan Sablowski on a halfback option that set up the Planets' second touchdown.
But ultimately the game came down to penalties and turnovers, which left Mars on the losing end.
“You can't make those mistakes like that,” Heinauer said. “That's where the effort comes in. You can't make penalties, can't have penalties in order to try and win a football game. You're beating yourself. And that's exactly what I think happened tonight.”
