ALIQUIPPA — It's no wonder Hopewell looks to be one of the top WPIAL Class AAA teams this season.

Just look at the short field they played on against Mars Friday.

The Vikings had scoring drives of 24, 30 and 4 yards in the first quarter to open a 20-0 lead and went on to post a 47-22 victory over the Planets in nonconference action at Tony Dorsett Stadium.

Hopewell (2-0) needed nine offensive plays to score to take that lead with 2:38 remaining in the first quarter.

"You can't do that," said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. "They're a good football team. We did not block people up front, we got backed up and made some mistakes."

Couple that with the running ability of Vikings sophomore Rushel Shell, and the Planets were in for a long night. Shell rushed for 171 yards on 24 carries and scored four times.

After Mars went three-and-out on the opening possession of the game, Ryan Costanza returned a punt 31 yards to set up Hopewell at the Mars 24.

Shell rushed for 10, 9, and minus-3 yards, then scored on an 8-yard run 3:17 into the game.

After another three-and-out that began at their own 3, the Planets were forced to punt and Hopewell started at the Mars 30. On the third play, quarterback Mark Hundenski found Mark Ross for a 17-yard scoring pass.

An interception by Dayne Smith off Planets quarterback Eric Guzak on the ensuing drive was returned to the Mars 4.

Two plays later, Hundenski scored on a 4-yard run and the Vikings were on their way.

"Our special teams did a good job," said Hopewell coach Dave Vestal. "When you start the game with field position like that, you have to take advantage of your chances."

Mars (1-1) did respond with a score of its own early in the second quarter when Randy Seebacher pulled in a D.J. Delucia pass and banged his way in for an 18-yard score to cap a nine-play drive.

Hopewell, however, increased its lead to 26-7 at halftime when it embarked on a 13-play, 82-yard drive, culminating on a Shell 2-yard run with 41.3 seconds left.

Shell added a 67-yard scoring run on the second play of the third quarter. He was nearly knocked out of bounds along the line of scrimmage before breaking away down the sideline for the score.

"That was a great run," said Heinauer. "Juking, moving around — he's a great football player."

Shell added a 3-yard jaunt with 5:10 left in the third quarter to give the Vikings a 40-7 lead.

The Planets, though, put up a pair of scores in a 3:52 span early in the fourth quarter to make it 40-22.

Guzak returned to quarterback and engineered a 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended when Austin Miele pulled in an 8-yard pass. Miele caught a 23-yarder and Seth Geyer a 27-yard pass to sustain the drive.

On Mars' next possession, Guzak found a wide-open Cameron Malewski on a 62-yard touchdown pass with 8:02 remaining.

Hopewell closed out the scoring when Malcolm Lay weaved around the Mars defense for a 42-yard touchdown with 6:58 left.

Miele, Mars' top rusher, was held to 65 yards on 14 carries. Vestal acknowledged trying to limit Miele on the ground was a key to winning the game.

"We wanted to make sure (Mars) would not control the clock," said Vestal. "They had some nice, long drives last week against Moon."

Next up, Mars will host Plum at 7:30 p.m. Friday.