It was another typical Emmaus-Parkland boys lacrosse match. Two teams that have been at or near the top of the boys lacrosse standings for the last decade were involved in yet another memorable matchup last Wednesday night at Emmaus High School in a playoff-like atmosphere. With the Trojans having won the final Lehigh Valley Conference title last year, and the Green Hornets taking the District 11 championship, once again there was a lot riding on this one.

Three quick first-quarter goals by Parkland were matched by Emmaus, as the Green Hornets took back the lead and held on late for a 9-8 win.

"We knew this was going to be a street fight with these guys," head coach Brad Schifko said. "We've talked about getting complacent, and [when] we jumped out to that early 3-0 lead we told them 'our work is not done' But you could see our guys let up a little bit, and Emmaus was going to adjust and take advantage of a few things."

Luke Summers, Gavin Saylor and AJ DiPasquele all scored within three minutes of each other to give the Trojans a commanding 3-0 lead before the Green Hornets could even get anything going offensively.

But sometimes in sports, all you need is one. Sophomore Tucker got Emmaus on the board with 1:30 left in the opening quarter, and that's when his team began to show some life.

Within the opening five minutes of the second quarter, Emmaus got one more goal closer when Tucker added his second. Jacob Baker tied the game and Ed Kelly gave the Green Hornets the lead for the first time with 3:29 until halftime.

Each team went through goal droughts at separate times during the contest.

After Parkland's three-goal spurt, they scored just once in the next 29 minutes, a goal by Ethan Howell midway through the third quarter that tied the game at four.

Emmaus, in the meantime, did not score until there was 6:34 remaining after Kelly's second-quarter goal.

Parkland took back the lead when Mike Warg scored off a Matt Horton turnover. Colin Mason tied the game a minute later and the two teams combined for nine goals in the final quarter with Emmaus getting three in a 67-second span late in the quarter.

Emmaus' Tucker, Andy Davidson and Tyler Corpora untied a 6-6 game and ballooned a lead to 9-6 with 2:45 left. And just as it looked like the game was dead and buried, senior Preston Saylor woke up his sidelines with a goal. Then Warg's third goal of the quarter, with 32 seconds to go, set up for an exciting finish.

A faceoff win for the Trojans was followed by a time out by Schifko to set up a play. Parkland got a clean look just before time ran out, but Horton (11 saves) came up big once again and preserved the victory.

The Trojans swept the Green Hornets last year, with two wins during the regular season, but then fell to them in the District 11 final. Schifko added that he would rather stumble now than when it matters.

"We're talking about defending our league championship and then hopefully taking what's theirs right now, and that's the district championship," Schifko stated. "That's our goal."