The third time was almost the charm for the Parkland Trojans in the PIAA quarterfinals, but they were unable to hang on to a late lead and fell to St. Joe's Prep 34-30. It marked the third straight season that the Trojans made it to the quarterfinals, but it was also the third straight season that they were eliminated at that point. It was also the second straight season that the Hawks were the ones to eliminate Parkland.

Parkland was down 20-3 with 7:43 left in the second quarter, but didn't stop battling back until quarterback Devante Cross hit Kenny Yeboah for an eight-yard touchdown pass with 8:20 left in the game, giving the Trojans their first lead at 30-27.

On the way to that lead, St. Joe's continually fought back when the Trojans seemed to have them on their heels, but Parkland seemed to have more fight left in them and seemed destined for a trip to the semifinals.

"The game plan was that we were coming in here and we were going to throw the ball as many times as we can, because we have home run hitters outside," said coach Jim Morgans, who saw Cross throw the ball 46 times for 287 yards. "If we were playing the game tomorrow, I'd do the same thing."

The Parkland defense did its job in shutting down the Hawks offense on the drive after Yeboah's touchdown catch, giving the ball back to the Trojans at their own 28-yard line. Cross immediately went to work and found Yeboah for a 24-yard gain, but the St. Joe's defense collected itself and tackled Cross for losses on each of the next three plays, forcing the Trojans to punt.

The Trojan defense forced St. Joe's coach Gabe Infante to go for a first down on fourth-and-one from its own 37-yard line. The stats show that Hawks tailback De'Andre Swift rushed for a 13-yard gain on the fourth down call, but what they don't show is that Swift was already headed toward the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped, but no flags were thrown.

The penalty would have put St. Joe's in a fourth-and-six, making it a much tougher decision for Infante. Instead, the drive continued from midfield and on the next play, quarterback Jack Clements hit Swift for a 50-yard scoring toss and Jon Daniel Runyan's extra point put the Hawks up by four with 4:21 left in the game.

Morgans refused to say that his team lost because of officiating or because it was on its heels after the first-down run by Swift, preferring instead to talk about what his team accomplished on the season.

"It's not like we're walking away empty-handed," he said. "They have something they can be proud of; they won a district title."

The Trojans quickly turned the ball over on downs on the next drive, but again, the Parkland defense stood tall and forced St. Joe's to go three-and-out, giving Parkland a final shot from their own 22-yard line with 2:09 left.

On a key third-down play, Cross and Yeboah hooked up again on an 11-yard play for a first down on their own 40. After two incomplete passes, Cross was sacked on third down and was unable to find an open receiver on fourth down, giving the ball back to St. Joe's. The Hawks took a knee on back-to-back plays and run out the clock.

"Some of the underclassmen that were out here today, we know," said Cross, a junior. "We've been here now. We can prepare for next year. We can still hold our heads high and just learn from this."