The Parkland High School football team had a strong and fast start, scoring 28 first-half points to defeat Pocono Mountain West 42-13 in a District 11 Class 6A quarterfinal last Friday night at Parkland School District Stadium.

The top-seeded Trojans (9-1 overall) advance to the semifinal round and will host the fifth-seeded Emmaus Green Hornets (8-3) on Friday night.

Senior running back Dahlir Adams once again helped carry the Parkland offense. He finished with 176 yards on 21 carries and had three touchdowns, two of which came in the first quarter when the Trojans began to take control of the contest. They scored the game’s first 28 points to go ahead 28-6 by halftime.

“It felt good,” said Adams on the victory. “It’s always great to get that first playoff win as a team and put us in the right mindset moving forward to get the next one.”

Adams’ burst from 19-yards out put Parkland on the scoreboard midway through the opening quarter. His second one of the quarter gave his team a two-score advantage early on and took the pressure off of backup quarterback sophomore Luke Spang and the rest of the offense.

“I just try to run hard, read the right blocks and just make plays when I can for the offense to help us win the game,” Adams said. “I don’t try to do too much, just take what’s in front of me and what’s given to me. The offensive line really does all of the work, I just find a hole and take that.”

Spang did his part in the second quarter, throwing for two touchdowns, one to Nakhi Bullock and the other to Nico Medlar, as the Trojans had their lead soar to 28-0. Spang finished with 191 yards passing two scores. Medlar led the way with three receptions for 59 yards.

Will Kerrick recovered a fumble on defense, along with Andrew Khalife, who returned it to pay dirt for a fourth quarter score. Victor Pagan led the defense with 4.5 tackles and two tackles for loss.

The semifinal against Emmaus on Friday is a rematch from the regular season finale two weeks ago, one in which Parkland won 25-14.

“I look forward to this game in so many ways,” said Adams. “It’s against our rival, but it’s also for the chance to play for a district title. I love how locked in our team is. The competition level at practice is higher and the entire team knows we need to come out and play hard again.”