The Parkland boys lacrosse team reached the title game of the District 11 playoffs. The Trojans beat Easton in the semifinal round before falling to Freedom in the championship game.

District 11 final

After falling to Easton in the EPC championship, the Trojans were panning for gold when they came into the District 11 finals against defending champion Freedom.

Parkland last won the district tournament in 2018 and figured it had been long enough since they were the top team in districts. Freedom enjoyed the gold bling from last season and scored two goals in the fourth period to beat Parkland 9-7 last week at Lehigh University.

Five times in the game, the two teams were tied, and the Trojans took the lead after the tying goal on three of those occasions. Freedom tied the game 1-1 after a goal from Parker Kusko just 1:17 into the game and Parkland responded by breaking the tie with goals from Drew Filipovits and Chase Kusko, taking a 3-2 lead. The next three goals belonged to Freedom, but Patriots’ goalie Ryan Hathaway was given a yellow card with 3:04 left in the first half and sent to the sidelines.

That gave Chase Kusko and Filipovits the opportunity to hook up on a goal with Kusko giving the feed that tied the game 4-4. Another penalty with 2:36 left to play gave another opportunity and this time, it was Chase Kusko on the receiving end of a pass from Jake Parker and the Trojans went up 5-4 only to see Freedom tie the game 10 seconds later with the final goal before halftime.

Parkland goalie Andrew Matulevicius picked up a penalty of his own with 9:39 left in the third quarter and just as Parkland capitalized when Hathaway was on the sidelines, Freedom added a goal. Two minutes later, another penalty gave the Patriots another man advantage and they used that to go up 7-5.

With both teams back at full strength, Chase Kusko scored his 76th goal of the season and that was followed by a goal from Parker, who used the narrowest of openings from the right side of the goal to squeeze a shot past Hathaway as the Trojans tied the game for what would be the final time.

Freedom used some athleticism and ball control to get the final two goals of the game. First came a sprint down the right side of the field from Antonio Solivan and then some swift moves through the Parkland defense by Jared Karabinus and Freedom was up 9-7.

Both defenses battled over the final 3:43 of regulation with neither team adding to the scoreboard, leading to a celebration for Freedom.

District 11 semifinal

The Easton Red Rovers (15-6) admittedly had a chip on their shoulder coming into districts. Because of a rule that turned the 3A classification into a sub-regional, they were denied the top seed in districts that normally goes to the league champion.

Furthermore, they came in seeded fourth behind Parkland, who they defeated in the league finals, Freedom, who they downed in the semifinals and Delaware Valley, who they beat during the regular season. After downing Emmaus in the quarterfinals, the Rovers were looking forward to a rematch against Parkland (18-3). That is until they fell to the Trojans 14-6 in the district semifinals.

For the Trojans, it was just another game that they needed to win in their quest for a district championship and they were not concerned about who they met along the way.

The first half was a goal-for-goal battle between the two teams. Chase Kusko and Jake Parker scored for Parkland and the game was tied after one quarter at 2-2. Easton opened the second quarter with a goal and Parkland responded with one of their own when Drew Filipovits tied the game 3-3. Easton went up 4-3 with 6:37 left in the second quarter before Parkland used their distinct advantage in faceoffs, to get their fourth goal just seven seconds later when a long feed from Filipovits off the faceoff went to Parker Kusko, who again tied the game.

For the next three minutes, Parkland threatened to break the game open when they got goals from Parker Kusko, Parker, and Tyler Smith leaving the Trojans with a three-goal lead with 3:09 left before halftime. Easton was not going to go quietly and came back with vengeance when they added two goals in the final minute to end the first half with Parkland up 7-6.

Parkland head coach Vince Arezzi credited the work of junior James Scott on faceoffs for helping Parkland’s offense get rolling.

“Coach (Mark Fogerty) has been working with the faceoff guys and I think that extra attention is paying off because he is doing a great job, not only on fundamentals, but by keeping them motivated and bringing them ready for each game,” said Arezzi. “They came in focused and ready to go.”

If the faceoffs were good in the first half when Parkland won 10 of the 14 faceoffs, they kicked it up a notch in the second half and won seven of the eight faceoffs. Parkland’s defense also found an extra gear and shut down the Easton offense over the final 24 minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, Anthony Schultz added a second-half hat trick, while Parker, Filipovits, and both Chase and Parker Kusko also picked up goals to lead to the 14-6 blowout of Easton and a trip to the finals.

“We don’t really care about seedings or anything, we just look at who we are playing and focus on that game,” said Schultz. “We had a much stronger attack than we did the first time we played them. We were moving as a group and that put a lot of pressure on them and eventually, we were able to use that pressure to get some goals.”

Both games against Easton in the playoffs were physical and Parkland was prepared for a difficult game because of the previous meetings this season between the two teams.

“We beat them once and they beat us once, so it has been a pretty even matchup between us, so it was just a matter of who would come out on top,” said Parker. “We really wanted to go to the finals, so this was the last step we had to take to get there, and we were determined.”