New Trier football targets revival after three straight postseason misses

JUMP TO: OFFENSE | DEFENSE/SPECIALS | SCHEDULE

Brian Doll has long believed that fall success on the gridiron is fueled by weight-room dedication during the other three seasons. And the long-tenured head coach of New Trier football is thrilled to see the leaders of his 2025 team buy into that belief.

New Trier entered the winter with the goal of pushing that notion harder than ever, and in turn, the Trevians’ offseason “was a lot tougher” and New Trier’s staff put significant “effort into making sure players were in the weight room,” Doll said.

Armed with the fruits of those efforts, Doll and company are confident their leadership core will be one of their biggest on-the-field strengths.

“When you’re led by your offensive line in the offseason, it’s a real positive vibe and probably the biggest difference for us in the offseason was the work in the weight room,” Doll said. “There was a commitment to getting stronger and a commitment to getting faster.”

New Trier will feature one of the biggest offensive lines Doll’s had in his decade-plus at the helm, he said, adding that the Trevs’ size up front is one of the key differences in this year’s team compared to last season’s group.

“I think there’s a lot of confidence up front and that’s where it starts,” Doll said. “We know going into that room that those guys want to run the football and they want to protect (our quarterback), so we feel we’ve got a good combination between a really good running attack and then a nice ability to protect and let him throw the ball down the field.”

The Trevians return several key offensive linemen — including senior captains Francis Karp, Jacob Wineman and Winston Malayter, all of whom Doll said were standouts in the team’s offseason weight-lifting program.

And, of equal importance, they’ll also bring back an array of talent and experience on defense.

The team’s staff and players are hopeful that combination will prove to be the answer for bringing an end to the program’s recent postseason drought and making sure their rough 2024 campaign is all but a distant memory.

New Trier finished last year with its worst mark in recent memory, a disappointing 2-7 record that resulted in a third-straight season without a trip to the state playoffs.

Winning the Central Suburban League South remains one of the program’s top goals, but New Trier leaders are also targeting bringing back postseason football to Northfield.

“We would like to host a home playoff game again,” Doll said. “With the schedule that we have, we are hoping that we can put ourselves in a position late in the season to win a couple late season games and potentially host a first round playoff game back here on a Friday night and get the community excited, our youth program excited and just the school excited.”

Offense

For the first time since the end of the 2021 season, New Trier will feature a new quarterback under center.

Junior Jackie Ryder is taking over the New Trier offense this year following the graduation of three-year starter Patrick Heneghan.

And New Trier’s new gunslinger is already making a strong first impression.

Doll said he’s been most impressed thus far with Ryder’s understanding of the game, particularly for a player coming up for his first year on varsity. Ryder spent an “enormous amount of time” with the Trevs’ quarterback coach Dusty Napoleon to fully grasp the team’s offense, Doll noted.

Napoleon, a former All-State quarterback for the Trevians who is also the head coach of the school’s baseball program, is new to the team’s coaching staff this season.

Ryder is also impressing early on with his ability to read defenses.

“The other thing Jackie does a really good job at is he identifies blitz schemes and he identifies fronts really quickly and he knows what’s coming or what could come,” Doll said. “We’ve struggled some years with that and he’s moving forward with that quicker than I anticipated and that’s a great sign for us. I can tell the offensive guys are really confident in him.”

A 6-foot-5-inch junior who also plays baseball, Ryder feels honored to lead New Trier’s attack this season.

“It’s just a great privilege getting to be a quarterback at a school like this,” Ryder said, noting he’s attended New Trier varsity football games since second grade.

The team’s strength and experience on the line have already helped ease Ryder’s transition into the starting role. And the group’s physicality thus far has the unit already envisioning the possibilities.

“I think we’re going to be good at running the ball, putting the defense in uncomfortable situations, and we’re able to throw the ball downfield so we’re going to be able to stretch the field,” Ryder said. “We’re going to put the ball on the ground a lot and we’re going to make some big plays this year.”

New Trier will look to a trio of talented running backs to lead the team’s rushing attack and the returning Declan O’Meara is expected to be the Trevians’ workhorse out of the backfield.

O’Meara, then a sophomore, burst onto the varsity scene late last season with a three-touchdown, 100-yard performance against Glenbrook North. He racked up close to 300 rushing yards over the team’s final three games.

Doll believes O’Meara, whom he described as a tough-to-tackle, hard-nosed back who likes contact, will help revitalize New Trier’s ground game this season.

The Trevs also plan on sophomore Nik Hanold and senior Alex Rafeedie being key parts of their run game this year, Doll said.

Returning wide receivers Keefer Baxter, Emmett Koshkarian and Alex Fairchild are expected to all be important parts of New Trier’s passing attack this season.

Doll is also anticipating Luke Mastros and Harry Resis to be big factors in this year’s offense from the tight end position

The unit’s leaders believe the group’s depth and improvements at multiple positions will help transform an offense that struggled mightily at times in 2024. New Trier averaged just 16 points per game in 2024 and at one point went 13 straight quarters without finding the end zone.

“I think we’ve got a lot better of a passing attack and running attack this year,” Karp said. “I think we’ve got receivers, great running backs and a great quarterback and as long as we keep everyone protected, I think we’ll be able to sustain drives and score a lot of points.”

Defense and special teams

New Trier’s confidence in this season’s defense largely stems from the group’s belief in its defensive line.

The Trevs will be anchored up front by returning senior and captain Anthony Aguilar, who the team’s coaching staff strongly believes will be one of the conference’s best defensive players.

“Anthony is one of those special kids that you only get every few years,” Doll said. “The quick twitch ability, his strength and the ability to just make people miss him and then finish tackles — I think he’ll be one of the better D-linemen that we see on the north side of Chicago this year.”

Aguilar described the team’s defense as a unit with a “relentless attitude” and a strong desire to compete. He credited the work of defensive line coach Jamie Wineman for instilling that mindset and getting the defense unit to compete better.

All-Conference senior John Fitzgerald returns to lead New Trier’s linebacking group, a year after finishing second on the team in tackles. Fitzgerald has impressed staff this summer, especially with his ability to force fumbles in practice, Doll said.

O’Meara is one of the few players New Trier right now is counting on as a contributor on both sides of the ball. The junior is slated to be part of the team’s linebacking group as well.

New Trier also expects returning senior Aaron Pressman, one of the state’s top lacrosse players, to be an important contributor at the position as well.

The Trevs will look to junior Rick Miller as one of its leaders in the defensive backfield. Miller, who moved up the varsity level late last season, is “really coming into his own,” Doll said, adding that he brings a high-energy style of play to the unit.

Fairchild is another two-way talent and the junior will join Miller in the Trevians’ defensive backfield. Marco Black and Will Molloy are also tabbed to see significant time at safety and corner as well.

Doll noted the work of defensive coordinator Jason Dane and the unit’s entire staff for a strong offseason that has the group poised for a strong 2025.

“We just have such a great staff defensively and I think we’re just impacting the kids at a quicker level this year and they’re buying in,” Doll said.

New Trier will need to replace one of the top players in program history as the Trevs will be without all-state special teams standout Niki Dugandzic for the first time in four seasons.

Losing one of the nation’s best kickers led to some “growing pains early on,” Doll said, but newcomer James Kay, a transfer student from Notre Dame, has stepped into the role.

Doll said Kay, who he described as a “great kickoff and field goal kicker,” has done a strong job filling the position thus far.

“James is very, very good and has a lot of potential over these next two years,” Doll said.

There’s still an ongoing battle for punting duties this season.

Looking ahead

New Trier will open its campaign Friday, Aug. 29, with a road matchup against the Naperville North Huskies, a team that handed the Trevs an opening-night loss last year in Northfield.

The Trevs goals for the season, as always, start with a Week 1 win. To achieve that, they’ll need to reverse their recent fortunes as they’ve dropped their last three openers (twice against Hersey High School and once against Naperville North).

“We really have bought into the Week 1 win mentality this year,” Doll said.

But that will be no easy task as the Huskies are coming off a seven-win season and returning one of the state’s top players: defensive tackle and Indiana recruit Gabriel Hill.

“We know they’re going to be a good team,” Doll said. “It’s a great program. … But we look like an 8A school right now offensive line-wise. We have enough size to line up against some of the bigger schools and that’s a confidence builder for us.”

From there, the Trevs will take on Waubonsie Valley, Hoffman Estates and Fremd in the nonconference portion of their schedule before opening CSL South play against Deerfield.

The Trevians’ confidence is high heading into the season and the team’s leaders are eager to return to the postseason play.

“Our opportunity to make it to the playoffs is what excites me most,” Karp said. “I’ve never played on a winning team in my entire life and this is my senior year and I want to go out with a bang. I think this is the best team I’ve ever been on, so I’m hoping that we can make a deep run in the playoffs.”

NEW TRIER 2025 SCHEDULE (2024: 2-7)

* Playoff team
^ Conference opponent

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