FENTON – The emotion flowed from Veritas Christian senior captain Manny Meneses after the Class 1 Missouri State High School Activities Association boys soccer championship game.
Three seasons of early playoff exits created the desire and toughness necessary to achieve a seminal moment in school history.
“It’s been a journey, that’s for sure,” Meneses said. “Our school has never won a men’s state championship in any sport. To be the first – that’s where the emotions came from. It was everything pouring down.”
Veritas Christian poured in three goals, controlled the middle of the field and defeated Lone Jack 3-0 to capture the Class 1 state title last Saturday at Soccer Park in Fenton.
Veritas Christian (22-5), which won its state semifinal in double overtime the previous day, scored four minutes into the championship game and never looked back.
“All the sprints, all the stamina. The back-to-back days, semis and finals, we had to give everything left in the gas tank,” Meneses said.
Senior Ashton Temple, who scored the double OT game-winner against Metro one day earlier, pounced on a rebound and punished it into the back of the net before the morning crowd had a chance to settle in with their coffee and donuts.
Just 13 minutes later, junior CJ Heath ripped a left-footed laser to give Veritas Christian a 2-0 lead. Heath, Meneses and junior center back Ryan Steimel controlled the middle of the field and helped Veritas Christian control possession and the pace of the game.
“We played how we want to play – spread out the field, swing it, get a cross and put it in the back of the net. We’re a possession-based team and that’s what we tried to do,” Heath said.
Early in the second half, Veritas Christian knocked in another goal to become just the third team this season to score three times against Lone Jack (18-8).
The outstanding performance on the biggest stage was four years in the making for Veritas Christian. As a Class 2 school, the Eagles went 6-14 in 2022 and 9-14 in 2023, losing their first playoff game each season. Last year, they improved to 16-5 and won a playoff game but lost to Duchesne in a district semifinal.
“My first two seasons were rough. Then we got knocked out in the second-round last year. We hadn’t even made a district championship game, so to make it this far – just to get to the (state) semis – we loved every minute of it,” Meneses said.
The Eagles’ season showed the toughness of a team hardened by difficult years. Veritas Christian went 9-3 in games decided by one goal and 4-1 in games decided by penalty kicks. In their double overtime victory over Metro in the state semifinal, the Eagles surrendered the tying goal with 1 minute 32 seconds to play in regulation, then played the first overtime in survival mode during before rallying to find the game-winner.
Veritas Christian vs. Metro state semifinal story: https://metrosportsstl.com/2025/11/21/temple-scores-ot-winner-to-propel-veritas-christian-over-metro-into-state-title-game/
“We put so much work into this,” Meneses said. “We’re a brotherhood. We’ve spent every day together for the last three months, and we have great connections.”
And those connections were amplified by a massive group of supporters that transcended the bleachers in Soccer Park.
“We brought the whole VCA community out,” Meneses said. “For the semis Friday morning, we had elementary and middle schoolers having watch parties back at school. It was an amazing experience to do this together as a VCA community.”
He added, “I’m so proud of this team. I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else. This is a special group.”
For a photo gallery from the Class 1 state championship game click on this link: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Boys-Soccer/Boys-Soccer-2025/Veritas-Christian-vs-Lone-Jack-Class-1-championship
