After winning a fourth straight District 11 Class 4A title two weeks ago, everyone involved with the Parkland boys basketball program wanted more.

And for a program that has advanced to the PIAA state tournament each of the last four years, expectations are high, but none higher than this year.

After failing to get past the second round the last three years, the 2015-16 Trojans may be better suited this time around to make a deep run. With all five starters from a year ago, and every major contributor having multiple years of experience on the big stage, Parkland has its eyes set on bigger things than a league and district championship.

The Trojans (26-3 overall) did not waste anytime showing their dominance last Saturday night in the first round of the state playoffs, dominating District 1 eighth-place team Conestoga from start to finish in a 71-49 victory at Freedom High School.

“Our kids were ready to go, they were focused,” Parkland head coach Andy Stephens said. “I saw the look in their eyes when they came into the building. They had the look of a team that was ready to compete.”

They scored the first eight points and forced Conestoga head coach Mike Troy to call an early timeout.

But the Trojans kept the pedal to the metal, jumping out to a 17-2 lead in the first quarter and never looking back.

Parkland showed its depth, with seven different players scoring and three recording double digit points.

Kyle Stout had a game-high 22 points along with seven assists. Sam Iorio tallied 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, and Kenny Yeboah recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds.

“We did a good job of coming out strong and with good energy,” Stout said. “The student fans gave us a lot of that. The whole fan base filling up the one side was great and we fed off that. We got off to a good start and that’s what we need to keep doing.”

Darryl Caldwell, who led Conestoga with 19 points, did everything he could to keep his team close. The Pioneers got to as close as 29-19, but a Jack Dreisbach basket gave the Trojans a 31-19 advantage at halftime.

Dreisbach then connected on a three-pointer, and Parkland soared the rest of the way.

“We just have to stay confident,” noted Stout. “That’s one of our new priorities right now. We know we can play with anybody as long as we stay ready. We just have to come back to practice Monday and Tuesday and work hard. We’ll be ready.”

Parkland advanced to Wednesday’s second round against Ridley (26-2), District One’s 3 seed. That game was played after Press deadline.

The winner will advance to Saturday’s PIAA quarterfinals where it will face the winner of Wednesday’s Roman Catholic-CB West game.