For the first 10 minutes of the game, No. 7 seed Palmerton was matching No. 2 Pen Argyl in their District 11 Class 2A boys soccer quarterfinal.

But in the 11th minute, a Green Knight team that had been waiting almost two weeks for its first postseason game opened the flood gates with five first-half goals en route to a 5-2 win over the Blue Bombers.

“From the whistle it was shot-for-shot with Pen Argyl,” said Palmerton head coach Ryan Sharkazy. “They’re a heck of a team. I did see some things from our boys that made me think we could be a team that went shot-for-shot with Pen Argyl. Unfortunately we waited a little bit too long to be the team that I know we can be. The effort was absolutely there.”

Over the first 10 minutes the teams went back and forth, each getting at least one shot on goal and some other opportunities before Pen Argyl struck first.

Junior defender Eric Lobb got the Knights on the board when he weaved through three Bomber defenders and beat goal keeper Ryan Yacone one-on-one with 29:16 left in the first half.

Lobb put his team ahead 2-0 when he headed a corner kick into the net less than eight minutes later.

“He’s done a lot of that throughout the season, coming off the back line and going up and making great plays up there for us,” said Pen Argyl co-head coach Nevin Smith. “He’s got the freedom to run and roam. Once he gets the ball, he takes off and goes. He’s definitely a playmaker for us coming off the back line.”

Cousins Mehmed Letifov and Stavin Kumbarov scored the Knights’ next two goals to make it 4-0 with under 10 minutes left.

And Lucas Maggipinto added a goal in the final minute of the first half to give his team a five-goal cushion heading into the second half.

The Knights, who finished 8-3-1 and missed a Colonial League playoff spot behind 8-2-2 Saucon Valley, had been waiting almost two weeks for their first postseason game.

“We missed leagues by a tie,” said Pen Argyl co-head coach Nick Pope. “The boys came out to practice really hard and I think it made us a better team, especially for tonight’s game.”

Palmerton got on the board with 8:05 left in the game on a goal from Willhum Mattis. Teammate Bryce Beahm made it 5-2 with 4:49 left on an assist from Jonathan Perloni.

Kumbarov had a pair of assists for the Knights, while Letifov, Nick Maggipinto and Lucas Maggipinto had one helper each.

Yacone made 10 saves for the Bombers, while Knights’ keeper Matt Rodas stopped 12 shots.

NEXT! ... Pen Argyl moves on to face No. 3 seed Jim Thorpe in Thursday’s semifinals at 7 p.m. at Northern Lehigh. The Olympians beat Pine Grove 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

THAT’S BETTER …The Knights, who won six more league games this season than last season, were winless overall just three years ago. “This senior class was 0-18 their freshman year. We’re really proud of these boys,” said Smith.

BOMBERS BACK IN IT … Palmerton made the district playoffs for the second year in a row. “Every year we kind of up the ante a little bit. We were just happy making districts last year. This year we expected to make districts and we expected to get that win in districts,” said Sharkazy. “Unfortunately we didn’t bring it together at the right time this year. I can’t fault the effort. This was a great group of guys and can’t be disappointed with what they did.”