MO BOYS: Pembroke Hill Wins Division II State Championship

Junior attackman Jacob Sinclair registered a game-high five points on four goals and one assist, and he scored the go-ahead goal with 2:55 remaining in regulation, to lead top-seeded Pembroke Hill to a come-from-behind, 6-5 victory over second-seeded Eureka in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association Division II state championship game Saturday afternoon at Anheuser Busch Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo.

Sinclair capped a fourth-quarter rally when he scored off a feed from senior attackman Will Bolen, as Pembroke Hill (17-2) erased a three-goal, fourth-quarter deficit to win its first state title in school history.

Pembroke Hill won all three of its playoff games by one-goal margins.

“We’ve been doing it the whole playoffs,” Pembroke Hill head coach David Colbert said. “I asked the seniors if they wanted this game at the end of the third quarter, and they responded. It’s amazing.”

Bolen finished with three assists, and senior middie Guerin Schwarberg and junior middie Blake Pierce each had a goal apiece to round out the scoring for Pembroke Hill.

In defeat, Matt Vollmer scored a team-high three goals for Eureka (15-3), which had its seven-game winning streak snapped. Eureka had also won its first two playoff games by one-goal margins.

Eureka led 1-0 at the end of the first quarter, 3-1 at halftime and 5-2 at the end of the third quarter. But Pembroke Hill scored three goals in the opening 1:22 of the fourth quarter to tie it, 5-5.

Sinclair scored the equalizer with 10:38 remaining in regulation, and the teams then played almost eight minutes of scoreless lacrosse. Sinclair scored his fourth with just under three minutes to play, and Pembroke Hill won the ensuing face-off.

After taking the clock down to two minutes, Pembroke Hill called timeout to set up its offense. Needing to keep the ball in the box, the Raiders successfully killed the clock to score their ninth straight win.

“It’s an honor,” Colbert said about winning the title. “In Division II, the teams are very similar. It’s obviously generated a lot of excitement for lacrosse in Kansas City.”