It was the matchup everyone wanted and anticipated, but with a few added twists.

Parkland (18-5) and Central Catholic (24-0) were the last two teams standing in the Lehigh Valley Conference, and met in the final last Saturday afternoon at Freedom High School, after snow forced the game to be moved back from Friday night.

Not only was the game more important than a regular season 77-63 loss by the Trojans, but there was a certain senior guard back in the lineup. Nick Rindock was injured the last time these two teams met in late January, and it showed in the final score.

Rindock and the Trojans battled toe-to-toe with the undefeated and the third-ranked Class AAA team in the state, but a fourth-quarter surge gave the Vikings a 66-62 win and their first LVC title. Parkland was also looking for its first league title, but fell just short.

"You feel a little empty when you see the other team celebrating, but we gave it a great effort," head coach Andy Stephens said. "We expected to win. We love playing in games like this and have a lot of guys with experience in games like this."

The Trojans abided by their coach's word and played with heart and showed their experience. Three seniors, Rindock (28 points), Jimmy Hahn (nine points) and Justin Zajko (12 points) had been in big games before and did their best to keep their team in this one against a talented Vikings squad.

It was a back-and-forth game which neither team led by more than seven points, and there were 17 lead changes.

Rindock wowed the crowd with 10 consecutive points in the second quarter, as Parkland staked a 35-28 lead, and led by five at halftime, stunning a Central Catholic team that hasn't seen many deficits this season.

But in the second half the Vikings played like a team that hasn't lost all season. They scored seven straight points to take back the lead.

The Trojans were ahead 56-53 after Zajko made a pair of three throws with 2:43 left. But then league Most Valuable Player Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman found Ben Pratt cutting down the baseline for a layup and a foul, resulting in a three-point play to tie the game and propel Central on a decisive 8-0 run.

"It was a breakdown in our zone and Pratt was able to get behind us," said Stephens. "That was a big play, but it still only tied the game and we had our chances, but a couple of possessions didn't go our way."

After Pratt's three-point play, Parkland came up empty on four straight possessions with Brendan Wagner ending one of them with a key block on Rindock down the stretch.

"I was about to call a timeout, but we saw there was a mismatch with [Brendan] Wagner guarding Nick [Rindock]," Stephens said. "Nick was trying to get to the rim and draw a foul, but Wagner played pretty good defense. Nick ended up with a pull-up jumper, which is not what he wanted. Wagner just made a great defensive play."

The play proved pivotal with the Trojans down by one, and the Vikings would ice the game on the free-throw line going 11-for-15 in the final quarter.