Restore the roar: Lisle football returns like it never left

Lisle High School football is back this fall. But technically, it never went anywhere.

The Lions did not play a varsity schedule last season due to low numbers. But they did play junior varsity, and it went very well. Utilizing a JV team loaded with sophomores, Lisle went 7-2.

Now the Lions are hoping that group can be competitive at the varsity level. They open the season Aug. 21 at home against Aurora Central Catholic.

“We had a great season last year,” head coach Cory Dillard said. “Obviously, nobody wanted to do what we did, but we had to do it. We were stuck in a cycle of low numbers and young kids.”

Two years ago, Lisle did not field a JV squad, so the current junior class had to play varsity as freshmen in 2024, and went 0-9. With few upperclassmen available, Lisle decided to take the step back and regroup.

“For me personally, I thought it was a good idea,” junior running back/linebacker Sebastian Osslund said. “It wasn't too much of a shock to me, because of just how young most of the players were that were coming back. My grade has the most players. It just made sense to be playing against other sophomores.”

There was a downside. A few seniors got left out and couldn't play. Dillard said there were two juniors on last year's JV squad, and one missed most of the season with an injury.

The school is growing again. Over the past three years, the IHSA has Lisle's enrollment moving from 408 to 440.

And not long ago, Lisle was very competitive in football. The Lions reached the playoffs five times from 2015-22 under coach Paul Parpet, making the 3A quarterfinals in 2018.

“Our elementary school is bursting at the seams right now,” Dillard said. “Our enrollment is going to get back into the 500s like it was when I was a kid. We played three levels when I was playing.”

Dillard was an eighth-grader in 2000 when his family moved from a small town downstate to Lisle. His father Dan became athletic director at the school.

So Dillard experienced Lisle's unique situation firsthand as a high school student. It's a very small campus surrounded by giants, with Downers Grove to the east, Naperville to the west and the Glenbard district to the north.

Before taking the head job at Lisle in 2023, Dillard was offensive coordinator at Lockport, one of the largest schools in the state.

“Lisle, in my opinion, is an attractive place,” Dillard said. “Big schools are for some people, but other people I think would benefit from going to a smaller school. There's more opportunities. You don't have to necessarily be the best of the best to get on the field. You can be a contributor at a school like Lisle and be able to play about whatever sport you want.”

Osslund, a life-long Lisle resident, shared that view of living a small-school experience so rare in the suburbs.

“I moved once, but it was from Lisle to another part of Lisle,” Osslund said. “It is a little weird, but I feel like you're definitely closer with the people you grow up with. I see other teams that just don't have as close a connection as we do, because we all know each other so well.”

At the moment, Lisle has 24 players. So barring an influx of freshmen, the Lions will play varsity, but not JV this season. That's not ideal, obviously, but one goal this fall is simply to get the program moving in a positive direction.

“I think confidence definitely went up,” Osslund said. “The team, I feel, is a lot more confident this season than ever before.”

mmcgraw@dailyherald.com