For the first 12 minutes of Tuesday night's District 11 boys lacrosse semifinal against Central Catholic, Parkland jumped out to a 3-0 and held all the momentum.

But how the final three periods unfolded wasn't anything like the first.

The Vikings went on to score eight of the final nine goals and advanced to the championship game with an 8-4 victory over the Trojans at Nazareth's Andrew Leh Stadium.

"I think the bottom line is we failed to settle the ball offensively," said head coach Brad Schifko. "From being on the sideline and watching the clock, it seemed like we spent an awful lot of time playing defense. We can't win a ball game doing that."

Josh Pope scored two goals in the first 5:59, and Dylan Klusaritz added another with 32.7 seconds left in first period to hold an early 3-0 advantage. But it wasn't until the middle of the third period when the Trojans would find the back of net again.

Meanwhile, the Vikings got to within a goal at halftime after netting two scores in the second period. Momentum had suddenly shifted to the Vikings' side.

"Typically in games like these you'll see those swings like these kind of happen more frequently," said Schifko. "Credit to them, they were able to possess the ball and take care of it and make plays. It seemed they beat us to every hustle play."

Schifko and the Trojans understood the importance of the first few minutes of the third period. The Vikings had the same mentality coming out of the break, however, and picked up right where they left off.

Central's Matt Stuart tied the game at three with 8:40 to play in the third, and Ryan Beville scored a little more than two minutes later to take their first lead at 4-3.

"What I shared with our guys is that going into the second half, that first few minutes of the second half are going to dictate how the rest of our game went," said Schifko. "And sure enough it did."

Klusaritz found Jake Billera, who tied the game at four just seconds later, and broke a span of 18 consecutive scoreless minutes. But the Vikings scored the final four goals to end the game, including one with 2:44 to play to end any hope at a possible Trojan comeback.

The Trojans certainly expected to advance to the title game, but Schifko and his group have experienced much this season. In his first season back as head coach, the Trojans captured their first LVC title by defeating Emmaus, who had won the previous four conference championships.

"What I shared with the guys in this loss won't define us as a program," said Schifko. "These guys had to endure a lot this year, between injuries, between coaching changes and between a variety of things. I couldn't be more proud of the group.

"We managed to accomplish two of our goals have a winning season and win the LVC title. Looking back on the season, the guys had a tremendous season. I won't take anything away from that. It's a credit to their effort."