Cephas, Hardy show Penn Hills’ big-play potential in victory over Mars

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 14, 2018 | 11:03 PM

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Officially, conference newcomers Penn Hills and Mars had no head-to-head history.

But Daequan Hardy, Dante Cephas and their Penn Hills teammates knew otherwise, and their coaches reminded them all week about how they’d lost to Mars in June during a passing camp at Pitt. That offseason defeat, in shorts and T-shirts, was Penn Hills’ only loss all summer.

Meaningless? Hardly.

“That was extreme motivation,” Hardy said. “We’ve thought about that loss since we first had it.”

With a chance for redemption under the lights, Hardy sprung free for an 86-yard touchdown run and Cephas scored on a 70-yard catch as Penn Hill showcased its big-play potential in Friday night’s 36-15 victory at Mars.

“We were practicing hard all week,” Cephas said, “so we could get revenge.”

Hardy and Cephas each scored twice in the Class 5A Northern Conference victory, and running back Terry “Tank” Smith added a 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth.

“Any time you go on the field, whether it’s summer or not, you want to compete and win,” Penn Hills coach Jon LeDonne said, “so we used it all week to give these guys a little chip on their shoulder.”

No. 2 Penn Hills (4-0, 2-0) led 16-0 early in the second quarter and 22-9 at halftime. To win Friday, Mars (3-1, 0-1) understood it needed to limit Penn Hills’ big plays.

Smith rushed for 142 yards on 20 carries, and Hardy had 109 yards on just two attempts. Cephas totaled 99 receiving yards and two touchdowns on three catches.

Hardy also made two interceptions, one he returned 43 yards for a touchdown.

“You can’t let them make big plays,” Mars coach Scott Heinhauer said. “They had two big plays in the first half for touchdowns. You know what? You’ve got to tackle guys. That’s a simple fact.”

Penn Hills’ offense has at least five seniors with Division 1 college offers.

Smith and quarterback Hollis Mathis are already committed to Howard University. Hardy has offers from Michigan, Michigan State and others. Cephas has at least a half-dozen D1 offers, as does teammate Corey Thomas.

“You’ve got four or five or six guys at any time, when they touch the ball, they can take it the distance,” LeDonne said. “It’s a good thing to have. At times it can create headaches here and there about who’s getting the ball on this play or that, but they’ve been pretty good for the most part.”

Garrett Reinke led Mars with 143 yards on 23 carries and scored on a 51-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

But before Reinke’s long touchdown run, Mars’ first four possessions produced two punts, a fumble and an interception. Those mistakes had the Planets playing from behind early.

Each team had three turnovers.

Penn Hills’ offense stumbled at first Friday with a fumble and two interceptions among its first four possessions. Another first-quarter possession almost stalled before Cephas caught a 20-yard touchdown from Mathis to lead 8-0. The Indians scored on fourth-and-eight.

The Indians’ lead reached 16-0 after Cephas’ 70-yard catch-and-run early in the second quarter. Hollis threw a screen pass to Cephas, who followed a block and sprinted down the left sideline.

Mathis completed 6 of 12 for 150 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Hardy scored his 86-yard touchdown run with 43 seconds until halftime, and he added his 43-yard interception return in the third quarter to lead 30-9.

Mars quarterback Tyler Kowalkowski completed 2 of 15 attempts for 66 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. His touchdown was a 28-yarder to Teddy Ruffner in the third quarter and came on fourth-and-22.

With little passing success, Mars ran the football 48 times for 231 yards. Penn Hills’ Jordy Boswell and Armand Gustave each had eight tackles.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Mars, Penn Hills