Owen Matela is heading off to play football at the next level soon, but it’ll be tough leaving Lyons.
The senior tight end and Miami (Ohio) recruit caught five passes for 59 yards in his final high school game on Nov. 7 as the Lions fell 22-14 to Bolingbrook in the Class 8A second round.
EJ Kuhlman ran 24 times for 118 yards and a touchdown for Lyons (8-4) and quarterback Brendan McCabe also rushed for a score. A senior like Matela and Kuhlman, McCabe also was 12-of-19 passing for 125 yards with two interceptions.
Matela and his teammates were understandably emotional afterward.
“It meant so much,” he said of his time at Lyons, which went 34-12 during his four years with an unbeaten regular season in 2024. “… I became a better football player, but I (also) became a better person. “(The coaches) all taught me, they’re like extensions of my family. They taught me how to live my life. … I trust them all so much and I just love them.”
The Lions have emerged as one of the Chicago area’s elite programs under coach Jon Beutjer, who took over in the 2021 spring pandemic season and has guided them to eight IHSA playoff wins since 2022.
Beutjer wants to keep raising the bar.
“Our goal is to win the West Suburban Silver and then obviously to win a state title,” he said. “And … all that stuff happens in the offseason — the lifting, the speed work, the practices in the summer. …
“Am I happy with where the program is? I think we’re close. You know, that’s a really good Bolingbrook team. (We) almost beat Fremd last year. Fremd’s got a very good football team. … (Bolingbrook’s) D-end is going to Notre Dame, their running back’s going to Oklahoma State — and our kids battled. The next phase is just to learn from this.”
While some key pieces are departing, this year’s postseason run — which included wins against Metea Valley and Perspectives — was as much about showing younger players what to expect as anything.
“What I love is we brought so many players up for the playoffs, freshmen and sophomores,” Beutjer said. “They got to see what a playoff environment was like and the importance of every snap. So we’re close. We’ve just got to keep working, and I’m going to keep looking at how we can get better offensively, defensively, (on) special teams.”
McCabe’s 18-yard TD run opened the scoring against Bolingbrook at 4:33 of the first quarter. The Raiders scored the next two touchdowns and led 13-7 late in the third before Kuhlman’s 10-yard score helped the Lyons regain the lead.
Bolingbrook scored the final nine points and Lyons’ last three possessions ended with an interception and two turnovers on downs.
Beutjer will miss these seniors.
“Gosh, they play with so much heart and so much grit,” he said. “Football is a unique sport in that the commitment is — these kids spend so much time in lifting and all for nine games. And once you add up the minutes they actually get to play throughout the season, it’s not much. …
“They’re so coachable. And we’re really going to miss this group. They were a pleasure to coach.”