CREVE COEUR – Tanner Culleton hoped his moment would eventually come.
The De Smet junior, who transferred from Seckman High, had not played a lacrosse game against a Missouri opponent due to eligibility requirements for transfer students.
For Culleton to fulfill his 365 days of idleness and play an in-state team this season, the Spartans needed to advance to the state semifinals.
As the playoffs neared, Culleton prepared his body and mind for possible action.
Then he watched, or rather, could barely watch, as De Smet’s quarterfinal game reached sudden-death overtime.
“I admit, I was a bit nervous, but I believed in them,” Culleton said.
The Spartans survived, and Culleton rewarded them Tuesday by scoring three goals in his long-awaited debut as De Smet defeated Chaminade 14-6 in a Class 2 State Cup semifinal matchup at LaBarge Stadium.
De Smet (14-4) advanced to its fourth consecutive state title game and will face eight-time defending champion MICDS (15-4) at 7 p.m. Friday at Harlan C. Hunter Stadium on the campus of Lindenwood University.
Kirkwood (10-9) will face Ladue (7-8) in the Class 1 title game at 5 p.m. Friday.
Culleton scored his most impactful goal midway through the second quarter during a stretch when Chaminade seemed to be building momentum.
The Red Devils trailed 6-3, and after three consecutive saves from senior goalie Phil Robson and a blistering shot off the crossbar by senior Peter Fesler, Chaminade was gaining rhythm and confidence after a slow start.
But a season of pent-up energy steered Culleton into a sea of Chaminade defenders where he whipped a shot past Robson a fraction of a second before he was met by a ferocious hit from a defender.
“I just try to never play scared because that’s when you get hurt,” Culleton said. “I saw the hit coming and just gave it everything I had.”
Culleton’s courageous goal increased the De Smet lead to 7-3, and the resulting hit placed Chaminade in the penalty box for a two-minute, non-releasable penalty.
A strong, ground ball retrieval by senior Nick Salthouse set up a goal by junior Graham LaBonte, and a quick pass from senior Nick Glarner set up a goal by sophomore Jack McManus as De Smet scored twice during the man-up situation and opened a six-goal cushion.
“When you get smacked with a two-minute, non-releasable penalty, it kills momentum,” Chaminade coach James Spink said. “It makes it really hard when you’re trying to mount a comeback.”
Chaminade (11-7) found another surge of momentum right before halftime as senior Charlie Hughes scored after a faceoff win and junior Tate Roberts scored on a man-advantage.
When senior Josh Steinhubl scored in transition to open the third quarter, Chaminade had sliced the deficit to 9-6.
But Culleton had energy to spare. He found an available crease through the center of the Chaminade defense, fearlessly entered the fray and drained another momentum-switching shot.
“I saw the lane, went for it and it worked out,” Culleton said.
From there, De Smet put on a clinic of ground ball collection, defense and goaltending.
A contested ground ball gathered by senior Charles Moffatt set up a LaBonte goal, a forced turnover by junior Blake Schlueter led to a goal by senior Tommy Ruder and several excellent saves by senior goalie Brosnan Mark highlighted a dominant Spartans’ second half performance.
A De Smet defense that yielded 15 goals to Chaminade in an 18-15 victory on April 13, held Chaminade scoreless for the final 22 minutes on Tuesday.
“We definitely took that first game to heart when they scored 15 on us,” Schlueter said. “We stuck to our game plan, we communicated well and we worked our defense really soundly.”
Led by seniors Nick Salthouse and Kyle Sindelar, the De Smet offense was sound from the start.
Salthouse found Sindelar on a nifty passing play to open the scoring, then ripped an underhand shot to make it 2-0 in the opening six minutes.
“All year we’ve been pressing on building momentum and getting everything going right from the start,” Salthouse said. “(Tuesday) was one of our best nights for coming out firing on offense and defense.”
Culleton, who scored 41 goals as a Seckman sophomore, ended his 2022 season with a loss in the State Cup quarterfinals at De Smet on May 20.
A year later, he scored his first in-state goal of the season for the Spartans after Salthouse took a hit to make a play and shoveled a pass his direction while being knocked to the turf.
Junior Jack Littauer earned a tough faceoff win and scored 16 seconds later to give De Smet a 4-1 first quarter lead.
Chaminade mounted its first comeback attempt when junior John Nicpon scored his third goal to narrow the deficit to 5-3, but a tough-angle goal by Sindelar and the tough-minded goal by Culleton blazed a path to victory for De Smet.
The eight-goal separation between the teams was the largest margin of victory for either team since 2015 and only the second time in the last 12 meetings the game was decided by more than three goals.
“We talked all week about how this was going to be tough, that they were not going to make it easy, and that we needed to show some determination and some fight, and I thought we did that tonight,” De Smet coach Joe Douglas said.
And that same determination and fight will be necessary Friday with a familiar opponent, MICDS, once again standing between the Spartans and their first state championship in 21 years.
“Personally, I wouldn’t want it against anybody else,” Salthouse said. “Going up against them, senior year, state championship game. There’s not much more you can ask for.”
