A loss to Emmaus might have been the catalyst that sparked the Parkland football team's District 11 playoff run.

And a win over the Hornets capped the run.

The Trojans soundly beat Emmaus 17-3 last week in the district championship game, avenging a week 10 shut out loss to the Hornets and ending their season.

"We came in and we were ready to do what we had to do," said Parkland senior defensive end Reid Andrush, who had two of the Trojans' five tackles for loss in the win. "We practiced how we needed to practice and these guys got ready and were disciplined in every single day.

"I am beyond proud. I don't even have words for the effort these guys put in on defense."

The game was a complete reversal of the regular season finale, when Emmaus held Parkland to just 120 total yards with only 25 on the ground in a 27-0 loss, Parkland's first shut out loss since 2013, ending a streak of 147 games with a score.

Last Friday in the title game at Whitehall, Parkland rushed for 228 yards and passed for another 50.

TJ Lawrence led the way with 91 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Quarterback Osmany Guzman ran 16 times for 67 yards and a score, while Naquan Thomason ran for 65 yards on nine carries.

"It was a team effort tonight," said Lawrence. "We really stepped it up from three weeks ago.

"We definitely stopped the run. That's what they got us on last game. That was kind of our game plan going into it."

Parkland held Hornet running back Reilly Bechtel to just 63 yards on 12 carries. He was the only Emmaus ball carrier to register more than two rushing yards in the game.

The Trojans set the tone early, forcing a three-and-out on the Hornets' first possession then marching 44 yards to the Emmaus 12-yard line before settling for a 30-yard Doug Bell field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 4:01 left in the first quarter.

Parkland forced the Hornets to punt on each of their first three possessions, but the Trojans didn't find the end zone until their third drive of the game.

Starting at the Emmaus 44-yard line, Parkland needed just six plays to hit pay dirt on a 6-yard Lawrence run for a 10-0 lead with 2:56 left in the first half.

The Hornets tried to break the shut out at the end of the first half when Will Buck attempted a 27-yard field goal, but Lawrence blocked the attempt with not time on the clock to preserve the 10-0 halftime lead.

Both teams punted away their first two possessions of the second half, but midway through the third quarter Parkland started a long drive that would give the Trojans a two-score cushion.

They took over at their own 16-yard line and after a Guzman completion to Nas Adams for nine yards, they ran the ball nine straight times with Thomas, Lawrence and Guzman, who capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run for a 17-0 lead with 1:06 left in the third quarter.

Emmaus got the ball back and immediately hit it's biggest play of the game, a 43-yard strike from quarterback Jerek Cooper to Benjamin Jones. But the drive stalled at the Trojan 29-yard line and the Hornets settled for a field goal to make it 17-3 with 11:11 left in the game.

Emmaus had just one more possession in the game, and it ended with Lawrence picking off a pass with 6:15 left in the game.

Parkland took over at its own 42-yard line and picked up three first downs to run out the clock.

"I'm so happy," said Andrush of his team's title. "I've been playing with these guys since North Parkland youth football. I wouldn't want to play with anyone else."

Parkland (10-2) entered the district playoffs as the No. 3 seed coming off the loss to Emmaus, which earned the No. 4 seed. The Trojans rolled through districts with a 27-9 win over Liberty in the first round before knocking off No. 2 seed Freedom in the semifinal round, 24-21.

"Getting blown out like that and not scoring hurt us," Andrush said of the loss to Emmaus. "The next day at practice it showed. We were hungry and we wanted it more. We wanted to practice harder and we wanted to be better. We didn't doubt ourselves for a second."

"It motivated us throughout the whole playoffs," said Lawrence of the week 10 loss. "We obviously felt bad about the game but now that we're here and it's great. I can't wait for states.

"We're improved a lot. We were a really inexperienced team at the beginning of the season. My guys stepped it up. It was great."

Julian Diaz led the Parkland defense with six tackles against Emmaus. Blake Nassry had five stops and Michael Burden had two and two tackles for loss.

The Trojans face District 12 champ St. Joe's Prep in the first round of the state playoffs Friday at Pennridge High School. The Hawks (9-2) are seeking their fifth state title.