STATE COLLEGE — Bob Marcoux was about to signal for a timeout.

The Mars boys lacrosse coach is glad he didn't.

“I was putting my hands into the 'T' position, ready to call it,” Marcoux said. “Then I saw the ball find Brendan's stick.

“I was thinking ... 'Wait a minute. He might end it right here.”

He did.

Junior attacker Brendan Moyer rifled a shot into the net from a tough angle, giving the Planets a 15-14 double-overtime win over Hershey in a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal Saturday afternoon. The tally came with 30 seconds left in the second five-minute extra session.

“I was in back of the net and saw the ball coming toward me,” Moyer said. “I stepped out to the side of the net, fired it at an odd angle and it went in.

“All the credit has to go to our defenders and Jack Austin, our goalie. The work they did was incredible. They gave us a chance to win this game.”

The Planets (23-2) trailed 12-9 with five minutes left in regulation time. Andrew Moyer won a couple of key face-offs that resulted in a pair of Anthony Greico goals that enabled Mars to get back in the contest.

With the score tied, Mars took a rare penalty and played a man short for 30 seconds late in regulation play.

“Jack made a tremendous save during that time to force overtime,” Marcoux said. “He made another huge stop late in the first overtime.

“He came up big for us. He had about 12 saves and a lot of them were difficult ones.”

Greico paced the Planets with four goals. Brendan Moyer and Cade Hetzler scored three each while Hayden Vasbinder netted a pair.

Ben Lewis and Mike Doyle scored one goal each. Andrew Moyer added a goal and 20 face-off wins.

“I can't tell you how big Andrew's face-offs win were today. Those can't be emphasized enough,” Marcoux said.

Hershey (16-6) controlled much of the play early behind the play of attacker Mark Sickler. Marcoux said 11 of the Trojans' 14 goals were “either scored by him or went directly through him.”

The Planets put a box-and-one on Sickler as the game went on and slowed down Hershey's attack.

“We'd put our best defender, Joey Crognale, on him and he wouldn't let him get the ball down the stretch,” Marcoux said.

Mars' offense struggled early against Hershey's zone defense. The only team on the Planets' regular season schedule this year that plays a zone is Canon-McMillan and that match was rained out.

“It took us a while to get going offensively,” Brendan Moyer admitted. “But with the help and guidance from our coaches — and the chemistry that's on this team — we were able to figure some things out.”

Mars will face West Chester Henderson in the state semifinals at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Cumberland Valley High School.

The Planets are in the state tournament for the first time in the program's five-year history.

“For us to reach the semifinals is a huge accomplishment,” Marcoux said. “The Philadelphia area has been a hotbed for lacrosse for a long time. To beat a team like Hershey is very big for our program.

“Our kids have a lot of confidence. They don't feel like they're done yet. They've been playing lacrosse together since they were 10 and we feel like we can make a run at the state title.”