Peter Kwakye-Ackah is one of the quieter members of the Parkland boys soccer team, but sometimes, it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

For the second year in a row, Kwakye-Ackah came up with a big postseason goal to help lead the Trojans to a victory. Liberty, the third seed in the tournament, was this year’s victim as the senior midfielder drilled home a perfect shot in overtime to beat the Hurricanes 3-2 in the District 11 Class 4A semifinals.

Last season, Kwakey-Ackah’s heroics came in the EPC finals with a header into the net to beat Pocono Mountain East 3-2. This year’s heroics came off of a rebound when Justin Douglas put a shot on goal that bounced off of a Liberty defender. Kwakey-Ackah anticipated the bounce and followed the shot in to make a play.

“JD’s shot is always on target and I figured it would hit the goalie and come back, so I followed it and thankfully it got to my leg,” said Kwakey-Ackah.

It was the second time this season that the Hurricanes lost a second-half lead in the postseason. They led Stroudsburg 1-0 at halftime of the league championship and wound up falling 2-1 when the Mounties got two goals in less than 30-seconds in the second half to take the conference title. Liberty got off to a quick 1-0 lead on a penalty kick in the first half and picked up a second goal less than 10 minutes into the final 40 minutes of play.

Parkland seemed to get a second wind after Liberty’s second goal, but couldn’t convert the opportunities until Dawson Berger hit Josh Kiser with a crossing pass and Kiser closed on the opportunity to make it 2-1 with 4:43 to play. With just under three minutes left in the game, Bryce Evans put a shot on goal that was blocked, but came right back to him for a second opportunity that he put past goalie Peyton Virgilio to tie the game.

“We looked forward to this game,” said Kwakey-Ackah. “We knew it would be a hard game, but thankfully, we were able to tie it in the last five minutes and then win it in overtime.”

The two teams didn’t meet during the regular season and Parkland coach Patrick Birns thought that the unfamiliarity with Liberty played a part in keeping his team on its heels early in the game.

“I think the boys were in awe in the first half of their speed,” said Birns. “We were shellshocked, I thought. Then, once we made some lineup adjustments and started to move off the ball, it was a whole different ball game.”

While Parkland, the number-two seed, may not have been familiar with the Hurricanes, they’re very familiar with the team that they’ll meet in the District 11 title game. Emmaus, the fifth seed, upset Northampton in the quarterfinals and then beat top-seed Stroudsburg in the semifinals to advance to play Parkland.

The two rivals met in the season opener and played to a scoreless tie and then fought to a 1-1 tie early last month in their second meeting of the season. Emmaus lost to Liberty in the first round of the EPC playoffs, falling 2-1 in overtime.

Parkland last won the District 11 Championship back in 2013, when they beat Emmaus 2-0. Regardless of the outcome of their championship game, both Parkland and Emmaus have secured spots in the PIAA tournament.