In Parkland’s loss to Liberty in week 6, the Trojans didn’t look like the same team that took the field the first five weeks of the season. The loss two weeks ago had ugly moments on both sides of the ball, but it was the Parkland defense that could not stop the Hurricanes when it needed to most.

Last Friday night was a different story. The Parkland defense showed up to play and dominated Easton, forcing five turnovers and not allowing the Red Rovers to reach the end zone in a 21-3 victory at Cottingham Stadium.

Three of those five turnovers were interceptions that came in the fourth quarter, sealing the deal on the victory. The Trojans kept Easton to 113 yards rushing, and even when the Red Rovers were inside the 10 yard-line three times in the fourth quarter, Parkland (6-1 overall) held firm and didn’t allow a point.

“We didn’t do anything special,” said senior linebacker Erik DiGirolamo. “It was just our mentality going into this game. We really knew what we had to do on defense, and we took it personal what happened last week. So we did what we had to do to get the win.”

The offense helped eliminate some pressure with two fourth-quarter touchdowns courtesy of senior quarterback Devante Cross to senior wide receiver Kenny Yeboah. Before those two connected, the score was 7-3 through three quarters. Parkland’s first touchdown came on an 11-yard pass from Cross to Zach Bross early in the second quarter.

Cross made a verbal commitment to continue his academic and athletic career at Boston College on Friday afternoon, and then went out and helped his offense get back on the right track.

He threw for 140 yards and the three touchdowns, and ran for 95 yards on 23 carries.

“It showed that our team is a resilient team and we can bounce back after a loss and face adversity,” Cross said. “The defense came out here tonight with the mindset that ‘we have to stop them. This is going to be a defensive slugfest.’ That’s what it was and we took it to them.”

Yeboah caught five passes for 59 yards, and picked off two passes on defense.

Now the Trojans sights are set to face undefeated Freedom Friday night in Orefield.