Top 19 of ’19: Trib HSSN breaks down the top stories of the year — No. 18

By: Don Rebel
Saturday, December 14, 2019 | 7:47 PM

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The 2019 high school sports season is nearly in the books.

While we anxiously look ahead to 2020, let’s reflect on the district high school sports scene over the last 12 months.

Here is a look back at the top 19 stories from around the WPIAL in 2019.

HSSN Top 19 in ’19: No. 18 — Near perfect on the pitch

On a mid-September Saturday evening, the Mars girls soccer team hosted defending WPIAL Class AAAA champion Seneca Valley in a nonsection battle of Class AAA and AAAA powers.

The match ended in a 3-3 tie and turned out to be the only blemish on the Fightin’ Planets record.

Mars won the Section 1-AAA title and advanced to the WPIAL championship match where it shut out Plum, 4-0.

Three state playoff wins later, the Fightin’ Planets were in Hershey winning PIAA gold with another shutout, 1-0 over Villa Joseph Marie.

Mars was dominant — it won 20 of 22 matches by multiple goals, with the two exceptions coming in the state finals and a season-opening 2-1 victory over Gateway.

Coach Blair Gerlach was named the state’s Girls Soccer Coach of the Year, and Taylor Hamlett was honored as the Trib HSSN Player of the Year.

Here’s a look at the rest of the top stories of the year:

No. 19 — Big Ben strikes often

Tags: Mars