When Brad Schifko came back for his second stint as head coach of Parkland's boys lacrosse program, he was thinking about a three-year, or maybe even a five-year plan to pull the Trojans up to the ranks of the elite teams in the Lehigh Valley.

Then he got a look at his players.

"The first time I had an opportunity to step into the auxiliary gym and watch," Schifko said. "I knew we had a special group of real talented kids here. That expedited the process for us."

In his first year back at the helm Schifko guided Parkland to its first Lehigh Valley Conference title. His team beat Emmaus Monday night in the league title game, 9-8 in three overtimes.

Parkland got a game-tying goal from Josh Pope with just 12.5 seconds left in regulation. Two and a half overtimes later, senior Brett Kudlak took a pass from Stephen Chenworth and slammed it home to end the game.

"When it went in I couldn't believe it," said Kudlak. "I didn't even think it went in. It just felt so good."

Parkland gave up an early lead in the game, but neither team ever led by more than two goals.

The Trojans took a 4-2 lead on first-half goals by Dylan Klusaritz, Josh Pope, Jake Billera and Eric Digerolomo. Emmaus got two goals in the final two minutes of the second quarter and went to halftime tied 4-4.

The Hornets pulled ahead by two goals in the third quarter and held a two-goal lead three times in the fourth period. But Parkland never let the Hornet lead extend past two goals.

"It was nice to stay close to them because we never wanted the game to get far away," said Kudlak. "When we were down by two in the fourth quarter, I knew we could do it. Last time we were on this field against Nazareth, we scored four goals in six minutes. I knew we had it. I knew it."

Pope scored the first of Parkland's four fourth-quarter goals. Chenworth and Anthony Ganguzza added one each before Pope's equalizer, which came after an Emmaus delay of game penalty.

Monday's game was the Trojan's second straight overtime contest against Emmaus. They lost 6-5 to the five-time defending LVC champs on April 25.

"We talked after the last game," said Schifko. "We did some uncharacteristic things in the end of that game that cost us the game. We talked about that sometimes the better team doesn't win the game. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I felt like there was a bigger thing on the horizon for us. That came to fruition [Monday night]."

Still more lies on the horizon for the newly-crowned league champs. They've earned the top seed for the District 11 Class AAAA playoffs, which begin later this week.

"Hopefully this is just one step in bigger things for us," said Schifko. "We'll move on in district playoffs and see where that takes us. But we're going to enjoy this one for a little while."