Just two weeks after the Parkland football team beat Emmaus by 11 points in the season finale, the Hornets picked up revenge in the District 11 Class 6A semifinal last Friday in Orefield.

This time around fifth-seeded Emmaus rose to the challenge. The Hornets scored 21 unanswered points in the second half, after being shutout in the first half, and defeated the top-seeded Trojans 21-14 last Friday night at Parkland School District Stadium. Emmaus (9-3 overall) will take on Freedom in district championship game Friday night at Whitehall.

“We struggled offensively most of the night,” said Parkland head coach Tim Moncman. “Defensively, I thought we played pretty well. They hit a few things on us but I thought we responded OK. It was turnovers and penalties. We just didn’t play well enough to win.”

Just like two weeks ago, the Emmaus offense struggled in the first half, amassing just 17 total yards while Parkland running back Dahlir Adams scored the game’s opening touchdown. On the first play from scrimmage, Adams took a direct snap 37 yards into the end zone for a 7-0 Trojans lead with not even two minutes off the clock. That was the only scoring the two teams did in opening 24 minutes.

After halftime, the teams each turned the ball over which may have waked up the Green Hornets. Head coach Harold Fairclough went deep into the playbook the following drive to help his team get onto the scoreboard.

Quarterback Josiah Williams flipped the ball back to wide receiver Tyson Karrat, who pulled up and threw a perfect strike to wide receiver Jaiden Robinson for a 52-yard gain to Parkland’s 11-yard line. On the very next play, Williams hit Dylan Darville for the touchdown and a tie score.

The Trojans drove right down the field with their next possession, but missed a 28-yard field goal. Emmaus capitalized and used the connection of Williams and Darville once again, this time for 22-yards, and the Green Hornets went ahead 14-7 with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

Groller then picked up his team on both sides of the ball, recovering a Trojans fumble at their own five-yard line, and then rushing it in on the ensuing play for a 21-7 Emmaus advantage early in the fourth quarter. The Trojans (9-2) pulled to within one score after Jack Harrison caught a 45-yard pass from Luke Spang for a touchdown with 8:23 to go.

Adams finished with 75 yards on the ground. Spang completed 12-of-21 passes for 154 yards. Harrison caught two balls for 54 yards and Trey Tremba had five receptions for 37 yards.

Parkland’s season came to a close with the loss. It was still a special season according to Moncman. The Trojans lost their starting quarterback early in the season and had their backup go down for a part of the season, but the team still managed to earn the top seed for district playoffs and come one win away from playing for the title.

“The adversity they went through with three quarterbacks, this is just an unbelievably special group of kids,” Moncman said. “I never enjoyed going to practice more in my life. They enjoyed every day.”