Both the Parkland High School boys and girls basketball teams are looking for restarts in the District 11 playoffs.

Both Trojans teams lost in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournaments last week and are searching to bounce back and claim gold, in both instances defend the title they earned last season.

But the District 11 6A Tournament is a different and new situation. It showed last season when both the boys and girls teams dropped a game at EPCs, but responding by winning districts.

The PHS boys team has won four consecutive district titles and the girls have earned two straight.

The Trojan boys enter districts with a 19-6 overall record and the fourth seed. They defeated Central Catholic 74-37 in the EPC quarterfinal round and then beat Nazareth 51-46 in the semifinals, before falling just short against the Kids, 52-49.

Parkland will face the fifth seed, Allen, this Saturday afternoon at Easton Area Middle School. The Canaries are 16-7 and split the two regular season meetings, winning the season opener 55-45 on Dec. 1, but succumbing to Parkland 55-44 on Jan. 20. The last team to win districts before Parkland’s run of four in a row, was Allen in 2021.

“We know we’re going to have to play better in districts than we did here [to end EPCs],” said head coach Eddie Ohlson. “We have to play hard for all 36 minutes. This group has been there and played in a lot of big games. Saturday will be another one against a really good opponent.”

The winner of Parkland-Allen will take on the winner of the top seed Northampton against the Pocono Mountain East/Stroudsburg pigtail round winner.

The Trojan girls team enter the district tournament with a 17-5 record and earned the two seed. They defeated Nazareth 43-42 in the EPC quarterfinals before losing to Easton 55-50. Parkland will face the seventh seed, Freedom, Friday night at Catasauqua High School. The Patriots have a 9-13 record. The Trojans won the only meeting during the regular season, a 57-28 win back on December 5th. The winner will take on the winner of third-seeded Emmaus and sixth-seeded Liberty in the semifinals next Tuesday night.

“I feel good about where we’re at,” said head coach Ed Ohlson. “Going into districts, which is our big time of the year, I think we’re in pretty good shape. We have to clean up a couple things but I think we’re in pretty good shape. We have a bunch of girls who have done it before.”

Both teams are hoping to don gold once again in two weeks.