The Parkland football team had won the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s Lehigh Division title even before the Trojans took the field for Friday night’s regular-season finale against visiting Emmaus.
But since the Green Hornets were last year’s division champs and clinched the title with a 27-0 win over Parkland, there was an extra sense of satisfaction for the Trojans to hoist the trophy in front of Emmaus.
Parkland put the finishing touches on a perfect, 10-0 regular season with a 34-13 victory over the Green Hornets, who played much better than a team coming in with a 4-5 record would suggest.
TJ Lawrence won the Battle of Cedar Crest Boulevard offensive player of the game honors for Parkland with 141 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Junior quarterback Finn Coen shook off an early interception to add a pair of TD tosses, and Liam Spang sparked a defensive effort that had 10 tackles for losses. Spang, who had seven tackles, was named Parkland’s defensive player of the game.
Emmaus scored the first six points, getting the first of two touchdown runs by Jay Santos, but Parkland, ranked third in the state in Class 6A, took command with the next 27 points.
“We knew Emmaus would come out to play because it’s a rivalry game and their backs are against the wall with the playoffs,” Parkland coach Tim Moncman said after he improved his record at Parkland to 95-25 in his 10th season. “They scored first, but I am happy with the way our team responded. “It was a little sloppy of a game, but that’s understood. As we said, you go 10-0, and it’s a great accomplishment. Now it’s on to the second season.”
The Trojans left their stadium at Orefield Middle School knowing they were going to be home for their District 11 6A quarterfinal next Friday, and are locked in as the No. 2 seed. But they had no idea who the opponent would be.
Later, District 11 updated the power rankings, and Parkland learned it would be hosting Stroudsburg, which will be the seventh seed with a 5-5 record.
Emmaus, which entered the night with a slim lead as the No. 8 seed, left not even knowing whether it was in the tournament or not.
The Green Hornets would have punched their ticket with a win, but knew that if they didn’t, they would need help. They believed they got some from Pocono Mountain East’s win over Pocono Mountain West.
However, as of Saturday morning, they still didn’t get the coveted fluorescent green stripe on the district website. There were two EPC games to be played – Freedom vs. Liberty and Allen vs. Dieruff on Saturday afternoon – and a lot of numbers had to be crunched before everything would be finalized and the Green Hornets would learn their fate.
No matter what, Emmaus coach Harold Fairclough was pleased with his team’s effort at Parkland.
“We knew we were going to need to play perfectly in order to get this one because they’re a great football team,” Fairclough said. “We know that. I also know that we fight when it comes to this game. There’s no backing down. The kids didn’t back down. They showed up tonight. We just didn’t make enough plays, but the effort was there, the fight was there.”
Emmaus got a pair of touchdown runs from Jay Santos, who was selected the Green Hornets’ offensive player of the game. Robert Edwards was Emmaus’ defensive player of the game.
Quarterback Jerek Cooper had his best night of the season throwing the ball, getting 127 yards in the air. Kai Jefferson-Rushing, playing in just his second game after suffering a broken collarbone just before the season started, made an impact with a 32-yard catch to help set up Emmaus’ first touchdown.
“Kai takes the top off the defense with his speed, and he does a great job at corner,” Fairclough said. “So when he went down, we lost a big piece. We’re just happy to get him back and get him out here. It’s good to see him running around and making some plays.”
But Parkland made more in outgaining Emmaus 317-211.
“It was a tough loss to them last year, but coming into this year, we had this game in our minds and we wanted a little revenge,” Lawrence said. “We’re happy about it. Obviously, you have to fight back through adversity, and we’re going to have some in the playoffs. I thought we fought back well tonight after getting down. Like Coach Moncman told us, we’ve got 24 hours to celebrate this, and then the next season starts. We’ll be ready.”
After getting his sixth season of at least 10 wins while at Parkland and his first 10-0 regular season since 2023, Moncman talked about the accomplishment and the excitement of playing postseason football.
“Like I told my seniors, not everybody goes undefeated and you’ll remember this forever,” he said. “But we have unfinished business in the playoffs. I love playoff football. I look forward to the challenges. It’s one-and-done. Your backs are against the wall a little and you have to get the kids ready to play.”
The series
Parkland now leads 45-21-2 in the all-time series with Emmaus, which began in 1959. Emmaus won the first six games in the series, but Parkland had at least three different winning streaks of six games or more. Since 2016, the Green Hornets and Trojans had split 12 meetings entering Friday’s game.
Around the EPC
When sophomore Chase Kessler ran for 317 yards in a win over Nazareth, it set a school record. Kessler is the first sophomore at Northampton to go over 1,000 yards in a season and entered Friday night’s game against Bethlehem Catholic with 1,233 yards. Kevin Kowalishen held the old single-game rushing record when he ran for 264 yards vs Liberty in 2006.
Marquez Wimberly of Nazareth entered Friday’s game against Easton with 60 career TDs and is tied with Mike Tracy of Marian Catholic (1978-80) for 39th place all-time in District 11. Wimberly, who began his career at Parkland, led the EPC with his 1,342 yards this season.
Liberty’s Antonio Fontanez reached the 60-touchdown total in his career last week, tying him with Dan Kendra III of Bethlehem Catholic (1991-94) and Travis Stefanik of Nazareth (2014-16) for 26th place all-time in District 11.
Talon Dogmanits of Whitehall cracked the top 30 all-time in District 11 for career reception yardage. He entered Friday’s game against Allentown Central Catholic in 29th place with 2,106 yards. His 123 catches had him in a three-way tie for 35th place in District 11 history with David Horton of ACCHS (2003-04), and Xzavier Pusateri of ES South (2022-24).
Scoring summary
Emmaus 6 – 0 – 7 – 0 — 13
Parkland 0 – 21 – 6 – 7 — 34
FIRST QUARTER
E: Jay Santos 27 run (kick failed), 6:39
SECOND QUARTER
P: TJ Lawrence 1 run (Andrea Giroudon kick), 8:45
P: Jaren Sanchez 4 pass from Finn Coen (Giroudon kick), 5:56
P: Lawrence 13 run (Giroudon kick), 2:49
THIRD QUARTER
P: Lawrence 11 run (PAT failed), 10:45
E: Santos 2 run (Gavin Yartymyk kick) 0:30
FOURTH QUARTER
P: Blake Nassry 14 pass from Coen (Groudon kick), 4:59
Individual stats
RUSHING
Parkland (34 for 231): TJ Lawrence 17-141, 3 TD; Naquan Thomason 7-34; Finn Coen 4-32; Nassim Adams 2-13; Liam Spang 2-9; Caleb Corsa 2-2.
Emmaus (27 for 85): Jay Santos 13-88, 2 TDs; Jerek Cooper 12-(-7); Kai Jefferson-Rushing 2-4.
PASSING 
Parkland: Finn Coen 8-13-1, 94 yards, 2 TD,
Emmaus: Jerek Cooper 7-15-0, 126 yards; Peter Sherman 0-1-0.
RECEIVING
Parkland: Nassim Adams 3-49; Jaren Sanchez 2-20; TJ Lawrence 2-11; Blake Nassry 1-14,
Emmaus: Kai Jefferson-Rushing 4-36; Jamaad Sanders 2-65; Jay Santos 1-25.