Lisle cancelled their Varsity season for the 25-26 school year. Now teams will be scrambling to find an opponent or taking a FFT win. Not good for the ICE
Lisle
- Thread starter Coalertown44
- Start date
How does this even happen? They have never been great but always decent and there are plenty of Lisle kids in the local youth programs that they should have enough kids to field a team. Seems like the bottom just dropped out last year.
Has there been a demographic change?
Being a suburb, Lisle has always been a bit of an oddball compared to the rest of the league (with the exception of Westmont the years they were in)
Also, their school district boundary must be quite different from the city limits considering their small enrollment compared to the city population.
I also assume, given their location and the state of their program, that they “lose” all their best players to the numerous other options in the area.
Being a suburb, Lisle has always been a bit of an oddball compared to the rest of the league (with the exception of Westmont the years they were in)
Also, their school district boundary must be quite different from the city limits considering their small enrollment compared to the city population.
I also assume, given their location and the state of their program, that they “lose” all their best players to the numerous other options in the area.
Never ever met anyone that went to Lisle Sr High. Thats pretty tough to do considering the proximity.
2-16 over the past two years and a winless season last year.
At roughly 400 kids, they are very small by suburban HS standards. Doesn't take much for the bottom to fall out of a school that size.
Additionally, they are pretty much of a fish out of water in that conference of theirs. It's around 50 miles to their nearest conference opponent, with Streator being an 80-mile drive. None of the schools in that conference could be considered suburban.
Used to be a good small school program. Made playoffs 7 of 8 times the IHSA playoffs were first in existence, 26 total playoff trips.
The Arboretum Bowl vs. Benet Academy used to be a big thing in Lisle.
The Arboretum Bowl vs. Benet Academy used to be a big thing in Lisle.
And it is right in the heart of some suburban private schools coverage area...Benet, SF, Montini, Naz, ICCP
I was afraid of something like this eventually happening with them.. There are minnows in a pond surrounded by big fish.. You have Naperville to the West, Downers Grove to the East , Glen Ellyn to the north and Bolingbrook to the south .... I may be incorrect in this but I thought at one time I had heard that there was talk of Lisle and Westmont doing a football co-op... The schools are 10 miles apart...
That Co-Op would make sense but with the success of the surrounding private schools in football the talent would still be hard to get, IMO.
Yeah and if they did come up with something like that they'd still at the travel a lot of miles to play other schools..
I'll take it one step further, Mike, and suggest that the two adjoining school districts ought to consider merging. Even if they operate two campuses for a while, they could still take advantage of other economies of scale and save the taxpayers in both districts a bunch of money.
If Westmont and Lisle were to merge, the resulting school would be of a size and location that should be able to be competitive in conferences like the Upstate 8 East or South Suburban Red.
Doesn't matter if you have a strong feeder program when Lisle is the size it is and in the middle of so many other options.
With no offense to the schools Lisle plays, does a good football player want to play that schedule/comp or the schedule/comp of those surrounding CCL schools and 8A schools. They are in a tough spot this day in age in HS fball.
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I believe the majority of Lisle is actually in the Naperville North district and maybe a few others. The school Lisle is not inclusive of the town. I think it is actually a fairly small-ish subsection of Lisle. If kids in the Lisle district play in feeder programs with kids who go to NN, the Downers Schools, a whole bunch of suburban privates, etc. it is hard to build momentum convincing the few kids who do actually live in your weirdly shaped district that they should forego the competition of the Catholic league or 8A public school football to play for a 3A school in a rather small conference.
Number of kids doesn't tell the whole story plus, as you said, it's MaxPreps. You're also assuming everyone who is eligible will return to a team that was winless last year and scored 63 points for the entire season.
Your numbers, or MaxPreps', also seem off. Lisle's enrollment last year was 408, let's assume half are boys so 50 out of 200 boys will be playing football? 25% of all boys seems high.
Yeah I always wondered about that. The stated population of Lisle is the largest of any city in the ICE and 3-4x most of the other towns, yet they have one of the smallest enrollments in the league
No one has been able to crack into either division of the South Suburban Conference for the 20 years since that league formed with its present 14 schools. Like clockwork, 2 non-cons to start the season, 6 games inside the division and 1 cross-over based on prior record. A real closed shop.
/Football (2024) Roster
Lisle Football (2024) Roster
24-25Do you have a team photo? Upload it here
| # | Player | Grade | Position | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jalen W | Jr. | DT, T | - | - | |
| 1 | David Skonieczny | Jr. | RB, LB | 5'9" | 175 lbs |
| 2 | Jacob Aalrust | Fr. | RB, LB | 5'9" | 160 lbs |
| 3 | Nolan Ashmore | So. | QB, LB | 6'0" | 155 lbs |
| 4 | Anthony Sansone | Jr. | WR, DB | 5'8" | 145 lbs |
| 5 | JT Tumbarelli | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'6" | 130 lbs |
| 6 | Cordell Hicks | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'7" | 135 lbs |
| 7 | Jayden Bae | Sr. | RB, DB | 5'7" | 160 lbs |
| 8 | Justas Dobilas | Jr. | WR, DB | 6'0" | 160 lbs |
| 9 | Cardell Hicks | Fr. | RB, LB | 5'8" | 147 lbs |
| 10 | Thomas Jones | Sr. | WR, DB | 5'9" | 145 lbs |
| 11 | Asher Carson | Jr. | WR, DB | 5'8" | 145 lbs |
| 12 | Nathaniel Garcia | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'9" | 135 lbs |
| 13 | David Nesbitt | Jr. | WR, DB | 6'1" | 160 lbs |
| 14 | Collins Miles | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'5" | 95 lbs |
| 15 | Noah Nigro | So. | TE, LB | 5'11" | 190 lbs |
| 21 | Arbab Abdul Jabbar | Sr. | TE, DE | 6'1" | 180 lbs |
| 22 | Adam Drake | So. | RB, LB | 5'6" | 140 lbs |
| 23 | Laith Assaf | So. | WR, DB | 5'5" | 115 lbs |
| 24 | Joshua Alexander | Jr. | WR, DB | 5'7" | 165 lbs |
| 30 | Caleb Adams | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'9" | 130 lbs |
| 32 | Alexander Adams | Jr. | RB, LB | 5'10" | 165 lbs |
| 34 | Patrick Doss | Sr. | WR, DB | 5'10" | 155 lbs |
| 35 | Thaddeus Aguilar | Fr. | RB, LB | 5'8" | 166 lbs |
| 44 | Elanas Grigonis | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'7" | 140 lbs |
| 50 | Wilson Wunder | Fr. | OL, DL | 5'5" | 177 lbs |
| 52 | Ephrem Winterburn | Fr. | OL, DL | 5'10" | 197 lbs |
| 54 | Dylan Lemmy | Fr. | OL, DL | 5'10" | 207 lbs |
| 55 | Andrew Schroeder | Jr. | OL, DL | 6'2" | 225 lbs |
| 58 | Nicholas Schuette | So. | OL, DL | 5'6" | 170 lbs |
| 59 | Andres Tenorio | So. | OL, DL | 5'8" | 240 lbs |
| 60 | BENJAMIN KOHNEN | Fr. | OL, DL | 5'7" | 160 lbs |
| 63 | Gael Maldonado | So. | OL, DL | 5'10" | 260 lbs |
| 64 | Zachariah Webb | So. | OL, DL | 5'11" | 235 lbs |
| 65 | Ramon Ortega | Sr. | OL, DL | 6'3" | 250 lbs |
| 66 | Diego Tenorio | Jr. | OL, DL | 5'8" | 240 lbs |
| 70 | Jalen Winger | Jr. | OL, DL | 6'1" | 268 lbs |
| 72 | Shoaib Khan | Jr. | OL, DL | 6'3" | 225 lbs |
| 73 | Bryan Joya-Reyes | Jr. | OL, DL | 5'10" | 285 lbs |
| 75 | Carlito Fryer | Sr. | OL, DL | 6'1" | 261 lbs |
| 81 | Caden Russell | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'10" | 130 lbs |
| 85 | Payton Larsen | Fr. | WR, DB | 5'1" | 85 lbs |
| 88 | Blake deBuhr | Jr. | K, P | 6'1" | 155 lbs |
| 90 |
Being that someone has to submit that info to MaxPreps, and that someone can be anyone with an account, I don't trust them at all. Can't see a rep from the school submitting a roster for a team that won't exist this year.
That was from last season. I was skeptical because there is a private school near where I live that had 25 players only. Max Preps had them at 52 & it is a smaller school than Lisle
Previous coach had them in the playoffs 5 out of his 7 years and two seasons after he’s gone - they can’t even field a team. In his tenure they were competitive with Wilmington (beat them and won conference in 2018) and Byron.
Again, should never happen.
Theres no excuse for this.
2018 is a long time ago in IL HS football, the landscape has changed.
They have never been great, but they’ve been solid up until about half way through the 2023 season. Fairly consistently making playoff appearances, etc…
IIRC, they had low initial numbers combined with a rash of injuries to key players that year and just completely fell apart. They did manage to beat R-C in the final game, but the Comets had basically packed it in for the year.
Last year, they were dreadful.
I can’t remember when they stopped fielding a sophomore team, but I recall that as well.
I’m not particularly surprised by any of this. Their program has been on quite the downturn.
Yep, and those 2018 seniors are now 25 so what's your point as to how that effects the 2025 team? There's been countless schools that have had solid 5-7 year stretches, but that doesn't mean anything for their current situation. Take a team like Carthage, they were a powerhouse in the 90's and had some good teams in the early 2000's but since winning a title in 2010 they've won a total of 3 playoff games and gone through 3 coaches.
Times and circumstances change, especially for smaller schools. Being that neither you or I know the full story, it's just ignorant to claim there's no excuse and this should never happen. This may not sit well with you, but there's also the possibility that football isn't on the pedestal you put it on for a school like Lisle.
Sports like Football, Basketball, and Baseball will continue to get more and more concentrated in each area. Soon, it will be more about the level of talent in an area of the state rather than at a school or even in a conference. Look what's happened to LL Baseball and In House Sports for all the towns and villages across the suburbs. Almost all have gone to travel based programs. We used to have 15-18 LL Teams at each level (Minors and Majors). Now, we have 2 teams for the town and have combined with 2 other towns to make a playable schedule. Adults/parents/money ruin sports. When this economy crashes, it will be interesting to see how travel sports gets impacted.
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