In new division, experienced Giants hope to repeat 2025 successes

Summer flew by, but Highland Park football coach Anthony Kopp and senior Max Stevens agree: The Giants made the most of it.

Coming off a 7-2, conference-winning campaign, Highland Park and its collection of returning starters got to work in the offseason and over the summer, and Kopp is already seeing the payoff.

“We had a great summer,” he said. “We got a lot in over the summer, which is probably more important with the season a week earlier (opening this Friday, Aug. 21, thanks to an expanded postseason schedule).

“We were able to get scrimmages in, a couple of 7-on-7s, going against different competition, pushing ourselves in situations.”

Kopp said a deep group of returners allowed the Giants to practice more situational football than usual, not needing to spend as much time teaching schemes to the experienced group.

Stevens is one of those returners. An All-Conference two-way player as a junior, Stevens seconded Kopp’s thoughts on the summer, while also adding to them.

Along with fellow wide receivers Owen Loftus and Peter Dimitriou, Stevens often met this summer with returning Giants quarterback Gustav Crane for extra credit.

“We’d come to the field multiple times a week aside from practice and throw it around, run routes but also to develop that connection,” he said. “That’s going to be beneficial when gametime comes.”

The Giants passing contingent is in for a challenge to replace the All-State production of wideout Lucas Gordon (973 receiving yards, 15 touchdowns in 2025), the recent HPHS graduate who is continuing to play football with Washington University.

While there is no replacing a Lucas Gordon, Kopp conceded, the coach believes in the varsity experience and growth in the Giants receiving corps.

“Lucas is a hard guy for anyone to place. Stevens is doing a good job of going for that,” he said. “Him and then Loftus and Peter have raised their play. We don’t have Lucas, but all three of them have gotten better from the previous year. It’s a more versatile threat there.”

And then, of course, there is Crane, whose All-Conference junior year included 1,596 yards passing, 526 yards rushing and 26 total touchdowns (19 passing, 7 rushing).

Crane is nursing a non-throwing-arm injury, but Kopp said he is nearing a return to the field and is ready to resume his spot as QB1.

The Giants, per Kopp, are targeting a balanced offensive attack and also have the returners to look dangerous on the ground.

Crane was the team’s top rusher in 2025, and junior John Boman (64 carries, 5 TDs) and senior Zion Wood (26 carries, TD) also return to the backfield. Kopp praised both backs, saying Boman, a bruising fullback, is “looking very good.”

The group will run behind two returning starters, tackle Addison Courtman-Simanek and center Max Glazier, both All-Conference selections in 2025, as well as blossoming seniors Justin Lopez and Asher Mizrahi, who will man the left side.

“They had huge offseasons,” Kopp said of Mizrahi and Lopez. “They got after it in the weight room. Their numbers there skyrocketed.”

Many of those names will also hold down defensive positions.

Courtman-Simanek will anchor the Giants defensive line, while Boman will be key in the linebacking corps, along with senior John Dugan Hever. Stevens is a leader in the secondary.d

Kopp said the Giants defense has focused on being a more physical force.

“They’ve been doing a good job all summer buying into the pursuit of the ball, get to the ball, play physical football,” he said. “I think it was one of our better years, of those first couple days of full pads, of really getting after each other.”

Stevens echoed his coach’s sentiment and added that the leadership is developing as well.

“Everyone is looking very quick, physical,” he said of the defense. “Recently, we’ve gotten a bunch of new vocal leaders. … Guys are speaking up a lot more. We’re flying to the ball. We just had a scrimmage and we’re looking good. We’re playing physical.”

After four seasons of just missing the postseason (4-5 record 2018-2022; no postseason in 2020), Highland Park has qualified in two of the last three years. A year ago, the Giants won the Central Suburban North title with a 5-0 record mark.

Another conference title and a playoff berth are again on the Giants wishlist, Stevens said, but some new variables are in play.

A realignment of the Central Suburban League — from two six-team divisions to three four-team divisions — has Highland Park with Deerfield, Glenbrook North and Niles West in the newly created Central Suburban Central.

Additionally, the IHSA football postseason has expanded. Sixteen more teams will make the playoff bracket in all eight classes, including Highland Park’s 6A.

Kopp said he expects his team to compete in several close games, meaning that “the little things” and situational play are paramount.

“Are we staying level headed, staying cool, making plays when we need to the most,” he said. “… I think it’s going to be a year full of a lot of little things and a lot of execution on key plays. If we do that right, I think we’re going to have a very successful year.”

The Giants open with a road test at Leyden at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21. They beat the Eagles 21-6.

HIGHLAND PARK* 2026 SCHEDULE (2025: 7-3; Central Suburban North champs, Class 6A postseason first round)

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