WENTZVILLE – Wentzville senior Jackson Meyer is accustomed to being locked off.
The leading scorer in the St. Louis-area, Meyer often finds himself hounded by an opposing defender who is staring at his No. 18 jersey from sideline to sideline.
But Meyer was locked off in a more unsettling way Sunday – stuck in the penalty box as his teammates tried to preserve a one-goal lead in the final minute.
“First, I was mad at myself, but then the nerves went away because I knew I had five really good defenders out there and big No. 1 in cage,” Meyer said. “I had full faith in my team.”
Meyer scored three goals, added five assists and watched as big No. 1, junior Max Wright, made the biggest of his 19 saves to complete an 11-9 victory over Summit in a Class 1 Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association state semifinal at Heartland Park.
Wentzville (13-5), which won the 2022 championship in Class 1, will return to the title game to face the winner of John Burroughs (6-9) and Parkway South (9-7) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Missouri Baptist University.
“It means everything,” Meyer said. “You play sports to win championships, and to be able to play for one with this crew is a great honor.”
Before Meyer was locked off by a Summit shadow, he pinballed his way to a hat trick in the opening nine minutes. The Rockhurst University commit crashed his way between bodies, and despite dealing with a painful lower body injury, fearlessly powered Wentzville to a 6-1 lead.
“When a body part hurts, every part of you wants to quit, but it just comes down to the mentality that this could be my last game ever and you have to leave it all out there,” Meyer said.
Nothing displayed that sentiment more than Meyer’s contribution on the game-winning goal with 1:16 remaining.
After Summit stormed back to tie the game at 9, Meyer accepted a pass deep in his own territory and speed-hobbled 50 yards with several Falcons nipping at his heels. At the last moment, he delivered his fifth assist, a strike to junior Aiden Hilgendorf near the goal crease.
“I threw in a couple fakes and threw it over the goalie,” Hilgendorf said. “That (goal) celebration with my boys was fun.”
But the Wentzville joy quickly subsided when a turnover preceded a Meyer tripping penalty, and Summit set up its man-advantage offense for the final 29 seconds.
Moments later, Wright stared down a Falcons’ rocket from 13 yards away and snared it in his catching net.
“I just really focused,” Wright said. “I knew I had to make it happen.”
After the save, Wright found senior Gage Waldron, who launched a 60-yard strike to sophomore Dylan Entwistle for the dagger goal that solidified Wentzville’s destination to the Class 1 title game.
“All you can ask for in that situation is to get a quality shot on goal, and we did. It just didn’t bounce our way,” Summit coach Nick Jennewein said.
Nothing was bouncing Summit’s way during a first quarter dominated by top-seeded Wentzville. Meyer scored three courageous goals in traffic. Higgendorf and junior Brayden Applehans boosted Wentzville’s lead to 5-1 after one quarter.
“We were staying really spread out, sharing the ball, dodging with our head up and finding the open lane,” Meyer said.
The Falcons took two slashing penalties on the same play to open the second quarter and the area’s second leading scorer, junior Mitch Menke, scored on the man-up situation to give Wentzville a five-goal cushion.
But led by junior Cade Polsak, the Falcons clawed their way back in the game.
First, Polsak snuck a shot past Wright to break a six-goal run by Wentzville. Then he capitalized on a slick interception from senior Joe Schicker to slice the lead in half. A strong drive by senior Logan Wefflemeyer put the syrup on a three-goal blitz and sliced the deficit to 6-4.
A locked-off Meyer, now a willing facilitator, assisted Menke and Hilgendorf 38 seconds apart to give Wentzville an 8-4 lead at halftime, but the No. 1 seed went scoreless for the next 16 minutes while the Falcons came screeching back.
Stellar goaltending by senior Dylan Smerek and goals by Polsak, Wefflemeyer, Connor Finck and Camden Smith knotted the game at 8. Smith’s 15-yard, underhanded laser gave Summit a 9-8 lead with 8:43 remaining – the Falcons’ first lead since the score was 1-0 less than four minutes into the game.
“I had 11 seniors who absolutely wanted to win,” Jennewein said. “I didn’t say much. They said, ‘We’re going to chip away, one at a time,’ and they did.”
But Menke capitalized on a man-up situation midway through the fourth, and when Meyer willed himself through the midfield to set up Hilgendorf, Wentzville had weathered the storm and retaken the lead.
“We really had to come together and talk through what we needed to do. We had to attack more tactically, rather than just go,” Hilgendorf said.
And it took one more moment of courage by Wright, whose 19-save performance somehow outshined his 17-save effort in Wentzville’s quarterfinal victory against Howell United.
“We left him hanging out to dry quite a few times. The number of 1-on-0 saves he made was just incredible,” Wentzville coach Chris Benton said. “He’s confident, he’s calm, he doesn’t get rattled. He’s been such a great player for us.”
In 2022, Wentzville was the No. 7 seed and defeated several teams it had lost to during the regular season before hoisting the Class 1 trophy. This season, Wentzville had to negotiate the treacherous playoff waters as the hunted No. 1 seed.
“It was a completely different season (in 2022). Nobody expected anything from us, and it was sort of a redemption tour,” Benton said. “This is different because we had the pressure of being the No. 1 seed. We talked a lot about making pressure our friend.”
And Wentzville has befriended fast starts and late-game heroics during this postseason, with one more mountain to climb.
“It’s been a really fun four years,” Meyer said. “I’m excited to hopefully win my last game.”
For a photo gallery from this game visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/2024-Boys-Lacrosse/Boys-Lacrosse-2025/Summit-at-Wentzville-Class-1-semifinal-5-18-25