It had never been done before in the history of Parkland’s boys lacrosse program. And it will have to wait another year.

Parkland was one win shy of finishing with a perfect and undefeated record on its way to a district championship. But a hungry rival in Emmaus was up for the challenge and took down the Trojans 7-6 in overtime of the District 11 Class 3A championship game last Friday night at Lehigh University’s Ulrich Sports Complex.

Parkland had not only been a thorn in the side of rival Emmaus over the last couple of years, but it has also given the same feeling to every other District 11 boys program. The Trojans had won the last two district championships and grabbed a couple of Eastern Pennsylvania Conference titles as well along the way. They entered this year’s game undefeated at 20-0.

But this was a different year, and the Green Hornets wanted to turn the tides and bring back their championship level ways from a program that had won three straight championships from 2013-15.

“It was a great run,” said Parkland head coach Mike Bender after his first season at the helm. “Tonight just wasn’t our night. Hats off to them for winning this one.”

It even took Emmaus more than normal time to get the better of Parkland as the two teams went to overtime before senior Evan Bhagat found the back of the net 1:14 into the extra period to send Emmaus into the PIAA tournament for the first time in four seasons.

After the first quarter it looked as if it was going to be another Parkland championship run, as it led 2-0. But the Hornets owned the second quarter and took control of the game, outscoring the Trojans 3-0 to take a 3-2 advantage into halftime.

“I think that’s where the game kind of turned in their favor,” Bender said. “They fell into a hole but were able to dig themselves out and not allow us to grow our lead.”

The score would be tied 4-4 after three quarters to force a pivotal final quarter all even.

With the score once again tied 5-5, Michael Leschinsky scored off a feed from Zach Whalen to push the Hornets up 6-5 with 4:31 remaining in the contest. But Parkland once again would not go away, nodding the score at six with 1:10 left. It even had a chance to score in the final possession, but a shot failed to go in.

Bhagat and Emmaus then made sure to make quick work of Parkland in overtime.

The six goals was tied for the least this season for the Trojans offense, who last scored six in a 6-4 win over Upper Dublin on April 16.

“We had some shots that did not fall for us tonight,” said Bender. “But their defense was solid all night.”

James Cipolla and Zach Poremba each scored two goals, while Will Filipovits Alex Albertson both added one. Greg Santa-Anna contributed an assist for Parkland, and senior goalie James McLaughlin finished with eight saves.