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SAPPINGTON — Evan Zimmerman was happy there was no late-game drama this year.
One year after Zimmerman and his brother Nick helped engineer St. Louis University High’s heart stopping, last-minute win in the Missouri Water Polo district championship, they were able to breathe a little easier.
Evan Zimmerman, a senior, popped in a game-high three goals and Nick, a junior, scored two more as the Junior Billikens jumped out to a nine-goal lead on the way to an 11-4 win over De Smet in this year’s MWP final Thursday at Lindbergh High.
“I was happy,” said Evan Zimmerman, who plans to play club water polo at Boston College. “The game didn’t go as well as we hoped, but I think we still laid down the law throughout the game. I didn’t have to be too stressed; I was just going out there and having fun with my friends.”
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Last season, Nick Zimmerman scored the game-winning goal with 29.6 seconds left and Evan produced the game’s biggest defensive play in the final seconds and turned it into an empty-net goal in an 11-9 title-game win over Parkway Central.
“It was just really awesome,” Nick Zimmerman said. “Last year, we won it in a thriller and then today we were able to finally sort of destroy them.”
SLUH adds to trophy collection
Top-seed SLUH (18-3) extended its own record of MWP championships with No. 24.
Of the 24 district finals to take place since the turn of the century, the Jr. Bills have played in a whopping 21 of them with a record of 15-6.
“It doesn’t get old. It’s a different experience every time,” SLUH coach John Penilla said. “I just told them this is a special team because we’ll never be together again and that’s tough because they were an exceptional group. They started on Day 1 as good, so it was a challenge for all of us to push each other to become better, and I think we did.”
De Smet’s magical run ends
Few outside the locker room gave seventh-seeded De Smet (10-12) much of a chance of even making the district final after an uneven regular season.
But the Spartans got hot at the right time and reeled off wins over No. 2 seed Chaminade in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Lindbergh in the semifinals to reach the title game for the third time in program history and first since the 2010 team won it all.
“It’s corny and cliché, but we had nothing to lose, and I truly think they played that way,” De Smet coach Taylor Swyers said. “One of the big things is one of our top players, Jacob Orr, broke his ankle over spring break so he was out for almost the entire season. He didn’t play until about two weeks ago, and it took a couple of games, but once he got into it, everybody just sort of settled into place.”
Fast start for Jr. Bills
Luke Gill scored just 50 seconds into the final and Evan Zimmerman tallied twice for a 3-0 SLUH lead after one quarter.
Derek Nester, Joe Azar and Owen Gruninger scored second quarter goals to make it 6-0 halftime, while Danny McAuliffe and Evan and Nick Zimmerman scored in the first five minutes of the third to give the Jr. Bills a commanding 9-0 lead.
That kind of start was paramount for SLUH so that it wouldn’t let De Smet get any momentum going to continue the wave the Spartans were riding on coming into the game.
“I knew if we give them any glimmer, the crowd was gonna get loud. It was so much fun. Great atmosphere,” Penilla said. “They were fired up. You look at the one and seven seed, but you never know. They played terrific water polo to get to this point.”
No quit in De Smet
Despite the huge deficit, the Spartans dug in and connected on three straight goals — two by Noah Schlaefer and one by Cooper Venneman — to cut it to 9-3.
But Nick Zimmerman and Gruninger answered that run before Henry Brinkley scored the game’s final goal for De Smet.
Swyers was pleased by the pluckiness his undermanned squad showed with the game already in-hand for SLUH.
“Every program has different challenges, including us,” he said. “Don’t have a pool, barely have a JV team, playing six or seven guys basically. At the end of the day, we as coaches don’t let that become an excuse. We don’t have a ton of guys, but the guys we have are doing everything we ask. I think that’s a perfect encapsulation of the way they played here.”
Defensive end shines
Penilla was happy with the way his defense played, especially not allowing De Smet to score a goal until 58.2 seconds remained in the third quarter.
“It’s a team defense and they executed to perfection today,” Penilla said. “It starts with Danny, but it’s also Derek Nester and it’s Nick Robert in goal and it’s helping from all these other places with Luke Gill and Owen.”
That SLUH defense was anchored by McAuliffe, the MWP Blue Conference player of the year.
“Last year, I thought I was a little bit underrated, so I really wanted to come out and show everybody what I could do,” said McAuliffe, who plans to play club water polo at Mizzou. “The past two games were great. We played well as a team. Defense wins games.”
Swyers was also pleased with the play of goalie Kellen Duffy, who made several big saves and kept the final deficit from being much larger.
“Last year was his first year ever playing water polo,” Swyers said. “His first game ever we got shellacked by Chaminade. Fast forward to this year, he wins us the Chaminade game, keeps us in the last one and this one was probably the best he’s played.”
SLUH’s whirlwind week
The district championship win was part of a memorable late-season run by the SLUH athletic program.
Earlier this week, the Jr. Bills golf team won the school’s first state title since 1952 and was led by the sizzling individual medalist performance of Harrison Zipfel.
And not long after things wrapped up in the Lindbergh pool, the SLUH volleyball team took care of the host Flyers in the gymnasium right down the hall to advance to the Class 1 semifinals.
“This time of year is crazy,” Jr. Bills director of athletics Chris Muskopf said. “We’ve got exams. We graduate Sunday. But it’s been a great spring. We won rugby also, which is not a big attention getter, per se. And we made it to the semis in lacrosse and ultimate frisbee.”
Beyond just this week, it has been a banner year for Jr. Bills athletics after state championships won by the soccer and swimming teams — the latter of which also featured the Zimmerman brothers — in the fall.
“It’s just been an amazing year for us,” Muskopf said. “It’s about this (the postgame huddle), right? Yeah, they’ve got a trophy sitting in with them, but it’s about the connections and relationships. That’s what makes it great for us.”
Missouri Water Polo boys district championship: SLUH 11, De Smet 4
This young SLUH fan rips his shirt off to twirl it in the air at the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
The SLUH Jr. Bills take their new trophy and promptly jump into the pool to celebrate in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Kellen Duffy (1) the goalie for De Smet swims to the middle of the pool looking to score late in the game against SLUH in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Evan Zimmerman (15) of SLUH gets the shot off as Jacob Orr (8) of De Smet defends in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Nick Zimmerman (13) of SLUH moves the ball forward against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Danny McAuliffe (10) of SLUH secures a loose ball against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
SLUH coach John Penilla talks with his team during a time out against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Luke Gill (2) of SLUH reaches out to grab a loose ball against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Nick Robert (1) of SLUH throws the ball against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Evan Zimmerman (15) of SLUH looks to pass the ball as Andrew Dolan (2) of De Smet defends in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
The SLIH Jr. Bills defeated De Smet and celebrated with their coaches for a swim in the pool with their new trophy in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Cooper Vennemann (3) of De Smet looks to score against SLUH in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Nick Zimmerman (13) of SLUH keeps the ball away from Jacob Orr (8) of De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Owen Gruninger (8) of SLUH takes a shot against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Derek Nester (1) of SLUH rises to take a shot against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Nick Zimmerman (13) of SLUH takes a shot against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Evan Zimmerman (15) of SLUH looks to score as Jacob Orr (8) of de Smet defends the play in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Evan Zimmerman (15) of SLUH looks to score against De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Danny McAuliffe (10) of SLU fends off Tyler Richter (6) of De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Nick Zimmerman (13) of SLUH defends against Cooper Vennemann (3) of De Smet in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Cooper Vennemann (3) of De Smet fends off Owen Gruniger (8) of SLUH in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Jacob Orr (8) of De Smet looks to score late in the match against SLUH in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Noah Schaefer (9) of De Smet races to a loose ball against SLUH in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Cooper Vennemann (3) of De Smet takes a shot as Owen Gruninger (8) of SLUH defends in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
Jacob Orr (8) of De Smet looks to score against SLUH in the Missouri Water Polo Boys championship match at Lindbergh High School in Sappington on Thursday May 22, 2025.
… (part 1)
