The Parkland and Easton football programs have a lot of rich tradition of winning. At least one of the two teams has played in the district final every year since 1996.

But when squaring off against each other on the gridiron over the last half decade, the results have been rather one-sided in favor of the Trojans.

Parkland had won the last seven meetings dating back to the 2014 season, including a couple of games in the district tournament. It had also outscored Easton 235-37 in that span.

But that all changed last Friday night.

The Red Rovers came out on fire, scoring 31 unanswered first-half points and defeating the Trojans 41-14 in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South Division game at Parkland School District Stadium.

“We got our butts kicked,” said head coach Tim Moncman. “They deserved it. They wanted it. We went through the motions. They out-coached us, outplayed us, everything.”

It was unlike Parkland football, not only in the matchup with Easton of late, but against any in-league competition in recent years.

The Red Rovers (6-3) won the opening coin toss, elected to receive and then proceeded to score on their first drive. That sparked a run of 10 points in the first three-and-a-half minutes and 17 point in the first quarter.

Easton scored on five of its first six possessions, rolling out 31 consecutive points.

The Trojans (6-3) were just unable to dig out of that early hole.

“We’ve had slow starts the past couple weeks and we’ve managed to pull it out,” Moncman said. “Tonight, we were stepping up in competition. You just can’t afford to do it. You can’t turn the ball over. You can’t have penalties. It finally got to us.”

Turnovers and penalties did play a vital role in the slow start and ultimately defeat for Parkland. It turned the ball over four times, including a pick-six, and committed 11 penalties for 104 yards. Easton scored 24 points off the turnovers.

The Parkland offense also struggled to find rhythm, as it had six three-and-outs on Friday night and was limited to just 30 yards of offense.

Angel Santos had the lone Trojans’ score in the first half, a one-yard touchdown run 26 seconds before until halftime. Colten Peischl added an eight-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter when the game was already decided.

Easton quarterback Nate Nimeh finished 14-for-16 through the air for 182 yards and three touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Tanner Lewis went 12-of-18 for 157 yards. Conner Bernecker finished with five catches for 56 yards and Christian Hudson had five receptions for 47 yards.

Parkland will now play at Emmaus (8-1) Friday in the regular season finale. The last time the two teams met at East Penn School District Stadium, the Hornets won via a goal-line stand in overtime.

Emmaus has a high-powered offense led by quarterback Ethan Parvel (1,371 passing yards, 19 TDs), and a trio of running backs led by Lubens Myers (864 yards, 10 TDs). The Green Hornets are coming off a thrilling 50-49 win over Bethlehem Catholic last Saturday.

“We have our work cut out for us here moving forward,” said Moncman. “It’s going to be a challenge every game from here on out. Emmaus is having a great season, and they got us the last time we were there.”