At the beginning of last week, Parkland football head coach Tim Moncman was focused on slowing down Nazareth’s electric wide receiver Jahan Dotson.

Friday night, his team accomplished that goal and it severely limited the Blue Eagle offense.

The Trojans defense held the recent UCLA football commit to just three catches for 10 yards, and in doing so prevented the Blue Eagles from getting into any groove offensively as Parkland (2-0 overall, 1-0 EPC South) came away with a 30-6 win last Friday night in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South Division opener at Parkland School District Stadium.

While Nazareth’s big play threat had a quiet night, Parkland’s big guns of senior duo Michael Ruisch and Jahan Worth made plenty of big plays.

Worth ran for 163 yards on 17 carries (9.6 yards per carry) including touchdown runs of 45 and seven yards. Ruisch completed 11 of 19 passes for 173 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

“I felt really good and felt comfortable tonight,” Rusich said. “We spread the ball out well in the passing game so they can’t concentrate on any one player.”

Worth and Ruisch each piled up more yards than the entire Nazareth team (162). Parkland’s offense amassed 422 total yards, and its defensive unit was just as strong.

“Our defense has been playing great so far,” said Ruisch. “Jahan had another incredible night just like he did against Allen [week 1]. I’m just glad I was able to go out there and perform for my team.”

It wasn’t smooth-sailing all night, however. The Trojans actually had to come from behind, albeit a slim margin.

Nazareth (1-1 overall, 0-1 EPC South) answered a Brian Hanton 29-yard field goal with a first-quarter touchdown. Zac Kiefer ran it in from the 1-yard line to give the Blue Eagles a 6-3 lead with six seconds left in the opening quarter.

But the second quarter was a different story. Parkland answered with 20 straight points and took control of the game.

Worth opened the scoring with a 45-yard burst through the middle of the defense. Then Ruisch connected with two different targets. Tyler Hays, for the second straight game, was on the receiving end of a Ruisch touchdown pass, this time it went for 34 yards. Hays’ score was followed by a 26-yard touchdown pass from Ruisch to Conner Bernecker.

“It took me a long time to perfect looking down the field and looking to run at the same time,” Ruisch said. “On the play to Connor, I was thinking about running but then I saw him break free in the end zone. I like to be able to threaten to run because it’s nice when the safety comes up to stop you and you can just lob it over his head for a completion.”

Worth added his second touchdown of the night a little less than three minutes into the third quarter for the final scoring of the game.