EDWARDSVILLE - Metro-East Lutheran's football program took a step in he right direction by going 5-4 in the regular season and qualified for the Illinois eight-man playoffs in 2024, losing to top-seeded Pawnee in the first round 62-28 on the road on Nov. 1.
For an encore season, the Knights are looking to go back to the playoffs - and do even better in 2025, as the program turned around last season and is now heading in the right direction.
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The players on the team worked hard to get to last year's postseason, and as preseason practice started on Aug. 11, 2025, the players are working even harder to show what they can really do. Enthusiasm is high in the camp, and the work rate in the offseason was high, as the Knights are prepared to take the next step.
"I think they've been going really great," said Knights head coach Mike Koch. "We've had some really good senior leaders that have really been stepping up, and showing the younger kids really how we want to play football here. The summer, they did a great job showing up, so we already have most everything in. Now, it's just review, and it's getting the pads on and getting back to what that feels like, and I think everyone's having fun. I think we're excited to get this season started, and get to see what we can do on the field."
The Knights went 5-4 during the regular season to qualify for the postseason for only the third time in the school's history - the first time as an eight-man team - and Koch likes their chances to make a return trip to the postseason - and much more.
"I think that definitely, we can do even better," Koch said. "Our schedule is very favorable at the beginning, so that lets us get that going, and we've got a tough three-game stretch, but I think all the guys are waiting for that one. Obviously, in our division (the southern Illinois division), the top three teams, historically, have been Pawnee, (Catlin) South Fork, and Martinsville. And we get them all here, at our field. So, we're excited to kind of build on that success that we've had, and I think we faced some of them in the five-on-fives. I think we're really ready to take that next step. We want to be known, and as football programs, that's a stop, if we can be successful against those teams, we can be successful against anyone in the state."
And it's a very ambitious schedule, indeed. MEL opens at home in the Lutheran Cup game against Decatur Unity Christian on Aug. 29, then play at Hutsonville on Sept. 5, and at Champaign St. Thomas More Sept. 12, before returning home to Knights Field Sept. 19 against Farmer City Blue Ridge, and go to Macon Meridian on Sept. 26. The tough three game stretch starts in week six, when the Knights meet South Fork on Oct 3, Martinsville Oct. 10, and Pawnee Oct 17, all at home, before ending the regular season on Oct. 24 at Oblong.
The key returnees include quarterback/running back Abe Obenhauser, who was 42-of-71 passing for 556 yards and eight touchdowns, and also ran for 302 yards and four touchdowns. Senior running back/receiver Ian Skelton also had a banner year in 2024, catching 22 passes for 228 yards and five touchdowns. Both have shown exceptional leadership skills in helping the Knights along
The main goals, according to Koch, are to return to the playoffs and defeat the top three teams in their division, and even possibly win the South division itself and pick up a very good seed for the postseason.
"One of our goals is, after beating our rivals, is to win our division," Koch said. "That's our first key for us, is to win the south. MEL's never won a football conference, so we want to set the stage there. If we can take care of business, and we win that south, then that's going to put us in a great position of where we want to be to make a playoff run."
Needless to say, Koch is looking ahead to the season opener against Unity on Aug. 29.
"Yeah," Koch said with a smile. "They're kind of our rival, two Lutheran schools, we have a Lutheran Cup. The last couple of years, it's been good, we've been successful. I think in every rivalry, both teams have got to be successful at some point: that's when it becomes a real rivalry. So, we've both had some success, and we just want to build. We want that to be kind of that first stage of those seniors really showing what we can do, how better we've been. So, I think I'm excited to have them come down here, and that's going to be the start of what we want to do this season."
Koch and his players are all set to have a big season, and the Knights are excited for what may happen during the course of the 2025 campaign.
"I'm just very excited, waiting for some of these seniors," Koch said. "They've been putting in that work hard. Right after that loss to Pawnee in the playoffs, in a way, when they got to that locker room, they said 'we want to go, we're ready to practice tomorrow.' I think they've been waiting the whole year to really try to be ready to put their best foot in. They all think they could have done better in that playoff game. So, obviously, this is the time of the year for seeing all that work that they've done to put it on the field and show what we can really do."
