Zach Benedek ‘extremely proud’ of group in 1st career win.
Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Greg Hillman | September 19, 2026
ALLISON PARK, PA– It’s not all about scoring.
As the saying goes, “Defense wins championships”.
But it also wins games, much like in Mars’ 14-7 victory over Hampton on Friday night.
Both teams got off to uninspiring starts in the 1st half. Both teams headed to the locker room scoreless in a defense masterclass.
Mars was able to move the ball a little bit more efficiently than Hampton, but they would stall on three possessions, with two of them being inside the Hampton five-yard line. But other than that, the defenses played pretty well in all four quarters.
“We played really good assignment football on defense,” Mars head coach Zach Benedek said afterward. “When everybody does their job, we’re a very stout defense. I was really proud of how they responded to last week. We came to play this week, and we showed up.”
It was a nice way to bounce back after three depleting weeks to begin the Zach Benedek tenure. Tonight was Benedek’s first win as a head coach, which meant a lot to him and his players. He was beaming ear-to-ear as I had a discussion with him postgame. A win like this can go a long way in a high school football season.
Especially one that features Central Valley, Montour, and Blackhawk.
Yeah…
But for Bendek, it feels relieving to get the first one out of the way.
“It felt really good”, he explained. “Words can’t really describe how it feels. I’m just extremely proud of these guys for continuing to battle this week and get in the win column.”
You could tell he didn’t really know how he was feeling. In fairness, he has never experienced anything like this before. But the young coach continued to praise his team and the way they’ve continued to fight despite a tough start to the season.
“We needed that,” Brady Brennan said postgame. “Obviously we didn’t want to lose those first three games; that was a tough start to the season. But a big win in a rivalry game definitely got us right on track for the season.”
Speaking of Brady Brennan…
He has been one bright spot for the Planets, scoring both touchdowns in the win. He connected on a 49-yard reception to open the scoring and a 10-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter to make it a 14-0 game.
Both plays were very similar, with Brennan running slant routes from the right slot. Brennan was double-teamed a lot in this game. Something he explained afterward.
“They had two guys over me the whole game, he said. “Whenever [Hampton] didn’t, I talked to [Nate Walker] and we talked to each other, and we just found the gap, and he got me the ball.”
That seems to be a common theme with how Dan Gigler and Steve Sciullo like to defend prominent wide receivers. They did it two weeks ago when Quinn Olsen tore their secondary. And while Brennan didn’t quite tear them as Olsen did, he did enough to find the gaps and ultimately made the two catches that mattered the most.
So, does this change for Sciullo’s squad? There are more good receivers they’ll face down the stretch. And while double teaming is a good strategy. It can’t be your do-or-die. Nate Walker found his other receivers, including Gus Coffield, who at times was doing more damage than Brennan was.
Not to mention, because of the double team, the Mars’ backs were able to find open turf and find gaps up front. Jameson Garvin had his way tonight. Finding those gaps and gashed through the Hampton defensive line. Steve Sciullo was not too pleased about this afterward.
“We have to get better up front,” he said. “Mars beat us up front. So, kudos to those guys and their line coach. And we didn’t look the same as we did the last couple of weeks. So, I’d like to get back to the drawing board a little bit in practice and work on some run stuff and get a little better in the run game.”
To piggyback off of that…
Hampton’s offense was a no-show aside from one play. There were a few chunk-yardage plays here and there, but nothing that would end up in points.
Going back to Sciullo’s point about the run game, it was invisible. Both Decan Csellar and Jake Kennedy couldn’t find any gaps in the Mars defense. This caused the Talbots to throw more, with nothing going on the ground.
That didn’t go too well either. But it wasn’t all bad. Late in the third quarter, Andrew Reschoff started rolling out of the pocket to make his throws. And he did connect on some passes, including the lone score that resulted in a 49-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Scully.
The roll-out thing is an area the Talbots want to explore more as the season goes on.
“We feel like if we can get [Reschoff] out there, then he can do okay when we get him started and settled down. He can hit some balls. Last week he hit a million of them to Heath [Borgo], and he was on. And he hit a few balls tonight too. Some slipped through our fingers; some were a foot away from them, and inches in this game mean everything.”
Yes, they do.
Hampton also could’ve had some drives continue if it weren’t for some of those drops.
Hampton must get better offensively if they want to keep up with the teams they have coming up. Central Valley is a top team in the entire WPIAL. No question the morale booster a win like that would bring to the locker room. A chance to rebound in a tough 4A class. Because after that, section play begins with Indiana, Kiski, and you know who.
It’s a game that stings more than Armstrong, based on the fact it was a classification game. And if it were to come down to a committee decision, Mars has the head-to-head win.
Sciullo wants to keep his team focused on facing a Warriors team that has more than the WPIAL championship on their mind.
“Listen, we’re playing Central Valley, so there’s no choice but to be focused,” Sciullo said. “They have a really good program, a really good coach, and really good players. So, we’re going to go up their and give them heck.”
He did indeed say “heck”.
