Lyons Township High School senior EJ Kuhlman began the 2025 football season among several candidates at running back. By the end of the season, Kuhlman had amassed 1,104 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns, including a single-game school-record 245 yards on a personal-record 42 carries in the regular-season finale against York.
“Being given the ball a lot was awesome. Hopefully I can again this year and maybe spread it around,” Kuhlman said.
Fortunately for the Lions, Kuhlman is among 10 returning starters from their successful 8-3 season (4-2 in West Suburban Conference Silver Division) that included another trip to the Class 8A playoffs before losing in the second round 45-21 at semifinalist Fremd.
Other returning starters are seniors Liam Corrigan, Nathan Fitzgerald, Charlie Harrington, Cole Harris, Brady Koren, Owen Matela, Tyler Stamm and Aidan Webster and junior Ian Collins. Kuhlman and Matela were among the Lions’ eight 2025 All-WSC Silver selections. Team captains have not been announced.
“Trusting your teammates and coaches. That’s the biggest thing (for us),” Matela said. “All of our coaches have played at a high level of football. They know what they’re talking about. If we have trust and execute, we’ll have a successful season. Our goal is to at least win the West Suburban (Silver) and make a run at state.”
The Lions gets tested immediately with the earlier Aug. 21 season opener at home against Barrington, which reached the 2025 8A quarterfinals. The Lions have reached the 8A quarterfinals twice in the past four seasons.
“These guys have worked all the way since January. I’m just proud of the work ethic and excited to see how we respond against a really, really good Barrington team,” LTHS coach Jon Beutjer said. “Right now, the goal is to get better every day. We have program goals, individual goals, offensive, defensive, special teams. Our overall goal is to go 1-0 every day. I like that we have 10 returning starters. That’s essentially half of the team, and we have a lot of good, young players coming up the pipeline.”
As a junior, Kuhlman had five games with at least 100 rushing yards and five with at least 20 carries. Three of those were more than 30.
“As the game goes in the third and fourth quarter, you kind of get used to (the workload),” Kuhlman said. “It’s way easier after the first drive to get comfortable with that situation and getting a lot of reps really gets me in tune to the varsity level of play.”
Contending at quarterback are senior Brendan McCabe, last year’s starter for the junior varsity, and sophomore Quinn Carroll. Another new offensive threat is sophomore Jack Williams, who played up with the sophomores last year. Tight end Matela is the top returning receiver (427 yards on 36 catches, 5 TDs) and also is a formidable blocker. Junior Grant Smith, last season’s top receiver but also a Division I basketball prospect, has not returned.
“I couldn’t do it without any of my linemen (Harrington and Corrigan), a lot of those returning guys I’m excited to run with,” Kuhlman said. “And it’s so easy to run when you have a guy like Owen Matela to distract the defense.”
Harrington, last year’s center who played a little defense, will start at tackle both ways. Corrigan moves from guard to tackle. Line newcomers include senior center Luke Vaupall and junior guard Thomas Green.
“I think we’ve got a really strong offensive line,” Harrington said. “The switch from junior to senior year is so much more fun. You have a lot more confidence.”
Defensively, Webster returns at defensive tackle, Fitzgerald at outside linebacker, Koren and Harris played safety and Collins was a cornerback/safety. Harris also returns as the long snapper. Other possible defensive contributors include senior lineman Zion Crockrell, senior defensive back/receiver Kyndell Barnes and three juniors – lineman Declan Flynn, lineman/linebacker Ben Sosne and linebacker Colman O’Sullivan. Sosne was last season’s quarterback for the sophomores.
“We’ve got a great bunch of seniors coming now so I feel like we’ve replaced (last year’s standouts) and we’ve got a lot of guys that have a lot of experience,” Fitzgerald said.
Top contenders for kicking and punting are junior Wolfie Ketterling, who saw some 2025 varsity action, and freshman Owen Hebert.
One big change is new defensive coordinator Dan Bielawski, an LTHS teacher who previously was the defensive coordinator at Downers Grove South.
“We have a lot of experience there, but (Bielawski is new) so we’re all learning new stuff,” Webster said. “It’s learning to play as a team and to play well together,” Webster said. “Obviously we want to win as many games as we can but also have fun while doing it. As long as we peak at the right time, we’ll be good.”
Last year’s Lions had a knack for coming through with a key scoring drive or defensive stop in crunch time as evidenced by their 3-1 record in games decided by four or three points. They were perhaps most impressive in beating York 24-21 in their playoff opener after a 34-26 victory in the regular-season finale behind Kuhlman’s three-TD record game.
“We’ve been playing together five, six, seven years. We’ve built up a great bond. We have great chemistry,” Matela said. “We know how to play with each other. Surrounded by great teammates and coaches, we can make a great run this year.”