Wissahickon’s Jackson Intrieri is the Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery 2021 Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year

Wissahickon reached new heights in 2021.

The Trojans won an outright league championship for the first time since 2010 and went undefeated in league play for the first time since 1993. The Suburban One League American Conference champions made the state playoffs for the first time in program history and won their first state playoff game.

Every player on the roster played a role in these accomplishments, especially senior Jackson Intrieri.

The attackman scored 63 goals and dished out 79 assists – totaling a program-record 142 points – in 24 games.

“Obviously it’s cool from an individual standpoint,” he said, “but I give all the credit to my teammates. I wouldn’t be in the position I am now without them. They’ve been through it all with me. I’m really grateful that I had good guys to pass to and good guys that helped me get open and get to spots I like and I was able to put the ball in the net. I give all the credit to my teammates.”

For his role in Wissahickon’s historic season, Intrieri is The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media 2021 Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year.

“Jackson was integral to our team’s success this year,” Wissahickon boys lacrosse coach Matt Conway said. “He was the ‘quarterback’ of our attack unit as demonstrated by his huge amount of assists. But he also came up with big goals when we needed them the most.”

Intrieri’s ability to facilitate the offense gets a boost from his time on the basketball court, where he played point guard. The three-sport athlete also played wide receiver for the football team, which helped improve his footwork for lacrosse.

The 6-foot-2 185-pounder showed his talent against every opponent on Wissahickon’s schedule. He dominated during Wissahickon’s 9-0 run through the SOL American Conference and earned the league’s Most Valuable Player award. He delivered throughout the District 1 and PIAA state playoffs, including a four-goal and four-assist performance in a 10-9 win over perennial power La Salle in the first round of states.

“It’s really impressive,” Conway said of Intrieri’s 142-point season. “Our conference wasn’t the strongest this year so I am sure some will say the numbers are inflated, but when you put up 15 goals and 18 assists in six playoff games against very legit teams that shows that you’re not just racking up numbers due to a lack of competition.

“His performance in our state playoff game against La Salle was special. To have four goals and four assists against that good and well-coached of a defense is remarkable.”

Of everything Wissahickon accomplished this season, reaching the state playoffs was Intrieri’s favorite.

“Being able to take the program to the state playoffs for the first time ever was a really big goal of ours that I was really glad we accomplished,” he said. “It was a really great season all around from coaches to parents to players. Even after we beat La Salle, it was really great to see how happy our parents were and how happy our coaches were for us and the program. It really connected us all together. I was really proud of that.”

On what separated this team and made it capable of reaching so many milestones, Intrieri said: “It was just chemistry. Every year your senior class is going to push your team to go as far as they think they can. We honestly thought we could’ve been the state champs this year and every day we showed up and put in the work. That was a goal that we had in mind. Obviously we fell short of that, but we were still right there with all the top teams. We would just show up and work hard – that’s the biggest thing that separated us from other groups. We worked hard, we weren’t afraid of other teams and we just went out and showed why we were as good as we were every game.”

Intrieri will continue his academic and lacrosse careers at Jacksonville University. He originally committed to Ursinus College in October 2020, but got more attention after his performance against La Salle in the state playoffs.

“I made my decision on whether I wanted to stay where I’m at or if I wanted to branch out and see how good I really could be,” Intrieri said. “With COVID messing up my junior year, I feel like I would have had some other looks a little bit sooner. Jacksonville is a really cool school – I really enjoyed the campus when I visited and coach (John) Galloway and coach (Tyler) Granelli were really genuine guys that I’m really excited I get to play for. I think I have a chance to go in there and help the program improve right away. I’m really excited.

“My goal, honestly, I want to be one of the best players ever to go through Jacksonville. Obviously that’s going to take a lot of work and I think I’m ready for it. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and I just can’t wait to see myself and the team progress over the next four years.”