Omar Haddad said he didn't feel pressure to bring home a District 11 Class AAA championship, but it's something that surely was in the back of his mind heading into last Saturday's 220-pound championship at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium.

Haddad joined his family lineage of brothers to claim district titles, as he scored a 3-2 victory over Liberty's Andrew Gunning to bring home his first district gold medal.

Haddad, a senior, had been a two-time district runner-up, but scored a takedown on Gunning with less than 30 seconds left in the third period to break open a 1-1 draw and add his name to the family legacy of district champions.

"My two older brothers have two district golds and my other brother Nezar has three," said Haddad. "I don't know if there was pressure, but you know the tradition and you just want to keep it going for your family.

"I'm just so thankful and praise God for the opportunities he's given me. It's a great feeling."

Haddad highlighted Parkland's efforts at the district championships, as the Trojans advanced five wrestlers to this weekend's Northeast Regional Class AAA tournament at Liberty and finished third in the team race last week with 132.5 points, falling a half-point shy of topping second-place Freedom (133).

Bethlehem Catholic stormed away with the team championship with 259 points, as the Hawks advanced 12 of 13 wrestlers that competed.

Parkland had two other finalists outside of Haddad last week, including junior Jacob Lizak (126) and sophomore Frank Guida (170).

Lizak fell short against Becahi's talented Luke Karam, losing a 3-1 decision, with all the points coming in the third period to solidify the title for Karam.

Guida squared off against Southern Lehigh senior Matt Mirth, who kept his undefeated record (26-0) on the season going with a stingy 3-2 victory over Guida.

Mirth's second-period takedown became the deciding points in the championship, which appeared to be up for the taking by both wrestlers.

Haddad certainly didn't want to keep anything up in the air, knowing this was his final shot at winning a district gold.

"He [Gunning] did a good job executing his game plan and I took a lot of shots to stick to my plan," Haddad said.

"I tried to open up the match, but a win is a win. I was glad to finally break through with the takedown in the third."

Nick Dolak (106, fourth) and Zach Ortman (113, fifth) were the two remaining Trojans to advance to regionals with their top-five finishes last week.