For a while, it looked like Parkland allowed Easton to jump out to a 7-1 lead just so the Trojans could give them a head start and make it a fair fight in the District 11 3A lacrosse championship. In the end though, the head start was a little too much and Parkland fell to Easton,which captured its first district championship with an 11-8 win over the Trojans at Lehigh University. Four different Easton players, including a pair of freshmen, scored in the first quarter to make it a 4-1 game in favor of the Red Rovers (18-4-0). They upped the Parkland deficit with three more second-quarter goals and led 7-1 before the Trojans (15-7-0) started to get back into the game. Easton brushed the would-be rally aside and found another goal. By halftime, Easton held an 8-3 advantage, but it was not as comfortable as it may have seemed based on the first half of play. Parkland’s scoring started with a strong pass from Jake Parker, who was positioned behind the net, to Danny Tapia, who was in perfect position to tie the game less than a minute after the Rovers had taken a 1-0 lead. Parker and John Gerancher also scored first half goals for the Trojans. When the teams came out of halftime, it was all Parkland all the time. Gerancher turned the ball into a missile with a shot from the right side as Parkland got its first goal of the second half. Drew Schaffer, who is better known for his defensive wizardry, got in on the scoring to cut the lead to 8-5 and suddenly, the Parkland faithful were feeling it was their game to win. Peter Kusko cut the lead to 8-6 late in the third quarter and with 9:24 left in regulation, Gerancher added his third goal to make it a one-goal game. Unfortunately, that was where the comeback stalled, and Easton dominated the next 2:30 and scored three goals in that period to close out the game and lock up its first district championship. The game was marked by wild momentum swings as Parkland suffered for 13:24 after their first goal before they would get another. During the Parkland rally, Easton endured a nearly 18-minute scoring drought. One of the keys in the second half turnaround for the Trojans was the success of senior James Scott on faceoffs. Scott won eight of 10 faceoffs helping to start the Parkland rally that drew them within one goal. “They’re fighters and they wanted to win,” Parkland head coach Vince Arezzi said. “They came in ready and with the right mindset. We just kind of made some mistakes early, and that happens.” Arezzi had to use both second-half timeouts in the third quarter to hold possession and attempt to extend the Trojans rally. That left him with none to use when the Rovers snatched momentum in the fourth quarter. It’s one of the difficult decisions that coaches make in games that really had no wrong answer. “It’s not so much the timeouts that cost us, I think they were good momentum timeouts to try and keep the ball in our hands,” Arezzi said. “Late in the game, where we lost momentum was trying to press some of their better shooters, keep them from creating opportunities. They made great shots and that just changes the game.” All is not lost for the Trojans, who will face the runner-up from the subregional between teams from District 3 and 6 in the opening round of states. Parkland will be on the road for that game while Easton will host the fourth-place team from District 1.