There were a lot of new faces on the Parkland School District Stadium field last Friday night during the opening weekend of football.

From the players on the field, to the coach on the sidelines, the 2016 Parkland football team looked completely different from the last time it stepped on the field on December 12 in Hershey.

But just like those 2015 Trojans, this year’s squad opened up their campaign with a victory, taking down Allen 56-6 to give former defensive coordinator Tim Moncman his first win as Parkland head coach.

“It feels good to get the first one,” Moncman said. “You never want to start the season with a loss. I’m glad we were able to get the first one with the first game. Now we’re focused on getting the next one.”

There was not much Moncman could have been upset with. The Trojans played soundly on both sides of the ball, finding the back of the end zone eight times, and giving up only one Canary touchdown in the third quarter when the game was already out of reach.

“It feels great getting back out there,” said senior wide receiver Zach Bross. “To get back out on this field as a senior, and get a win, it’s great. It’s more of a family atmosphere this year, and we’re all in it together.”

Bross, along with senior linebacker DJ Hohman, senior offensive lineman Patrick Ferry, and junior offensive lineman Brody Boyer were team captains before the game.

“It was definitely an exciting feeling,” said Hohman. “We bonded a lot as seniors over the offseason. We have a goal, and we’re working hard to achieve our goal, which is obviously to get back to the state championship game. This was just the first step, but it was an important step to getting where we want to be.”

The Trojan offense jumped out on top right from the start, scoring touchdowns on its first two possessions. Senior running back Frank Guida opened up the scoring from two yards out, and then first-year quarter back Michael Ruisch found Bross for a 55-yard touchdown reception.

Although that long ball worked out well for the Parkland offense, it was clear the idea was to run the ball. Ruisch only attempted three passes, completing two. But there were nine different players that recorded a rush, led by senior Nick Suriel who finished with 10 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown.

“I think [offensive coordinator Brett Comp] focused a lot on the running game in the offseason,” said Bross. “We have Michael Ruisch there that can air it out, but we really want to pound the football this year. It seemed to have worked out for us well tonight.”

Guida (4 for 27 yards) found the back of the end zone twice, his brother sophomore Joe Guida (3 for 22 yards) also scored, along with junior fullback Mason Malozzi (2 for 5). Junior Josh Wagner was second on the team with 35 yards on three carries.

On the defense, Parkland gave up just 52 yards of total offense. With all of Allen’s yardage coming on the 53-yard touchdown run by Tre Foote.

Parkland’s defense recovered two fumbles and junior linebacker Jahan Worth returned one for a 23-yard score.

The Trojan special teams also got into the action as junior Juan Salas returned an Allen punt 45 yards to pay dirt.

“Defensively we’re running a similar style,” Hohman said. “Coach Moncman is running the defense again, and his philosophy is still the same: fly to the ball. When he watches our film he wants to see 11 hats in the picture.”

It was a nice week to transition some new pieces. It only gets tougher from here. The Trojans travel to Nazareth this Friday night.

“It was a good, all-around game tonight,” Bross said. “Of course we made some mistakes and there’s some things we can clean up, but we’ll look at some film this week and sharpen those up and get ready for next week.”