By Bobby Narang
The St. Charles East High School football team is attempting to take a giant leap this season.
In recent years, the Saints’ program has been struggling to win more than two games, but the upcoming 2026-2027 season is showing signs of a possible shift of that recent trend.
“We’re bringing back a lot, which is great,” St. Charles East coach Nolan Possley said. “We have a decent amount of seniors going for us with experience. Defensively, we have Aiden Coyne playing safety and he made an exceptional jump from his junior to senior year. We’re excited to see him on the field. Leondra Lito is back playing middle linebacker and is an exceptional athlete. We’re excited to get him running around the field.
“Defensive end Dane Meyer made huge strides last year and is a lock down player we can lean on. We have three defensive guys we are excited to see what they can do in their senior year.”
Coyne said the entire Saints team is motivated to add more wins to their final season after finishing 1-8 last year.
“The team is hungrier than ever for a winning season with returning starters in a large majority of roles,” Coyne said. “We feel we are in the midst of a huge upcoming season to change the face of the program.”
Senior offensive lineman Troy Demien agreed with Coyne’s assessment.
“The players and coaches are ready to go and excited to get out there,” Demien said. “The confidence of this team is so much better and the leadership is a lot better this year with more than just a couple of leaders. We have a full team of guys that can lead who are great motivators and great to play with.”
On offense, the Saints will have a much younger look, but junior offensive lineman Liam Barrett is an up-and-coming high profile player. At 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds, Barrett possesses unique size for his position for just his second year on the varsity. He has offers from Cincinnati, Florida Atlantic, Toledo, Kansas, Akron, and Iowa State. His brother, Dylan, started at Wisconsin and played at Iowa State before signing as an undrafted free agent with the Green Bay Packers.
“We have our quarterback back in Cruz Herrera who started last year and we have big expectations for Liam coming into his year at left tackle,” Possley said. “Wide receiver Tyler Bradley is another player. All three players had significant playing time as sophomores last year.”
Senior running back Johnny Solano is another player Possley is anticipating helping carry the offense this fall.
“Johnny really stepped up last year and had an incredible offseason,” he said. “We will lean on Johnny at running back a lot and expect a big season out of him. Johnny is a workhorse. We plan on letting him run wild and Tyler will get a lot of targets. We expect Tyler and Johnny to be our engine on offense.”