Simeon's youngsters had to grow up in a hurry, and they did.
The Wolverines ran a gauntlet of tough teams to open the season, losing their first three games and five of their first six. But Simeon survived and has won five in a row, the latest 28-19 over host Oak Lawn Friday night in the Class 6A first round.
"We had everybody putting us down, just giving up on us," sophomore quarterback Aki King said. "We ain't give up on ourselves. That was the main thing. We just went out there, kept fighting."
They did it once more against Oak Lawn, rallying from a 13-6 deficit with three straight scores.
The last came on the first play of the fourth quarter when sophomore Eshun Flowers blocked a Spartans punt, scooped it up and ran 25 yards for a touchdown to give Simeon (6-5) a 28-13 lead.
"Oh, that was wonderful," said Simeon junior Bryce Kidd, who ran for one TD and caught a pass for another. "That was the game-sealer, right there."
Earlier, King threw a 25-yard TD pass to Kidd and Kidd raced 79 yards down the right sideline for another score.
Running back James Bell, one of the state's top uncommitted seniors, added an eight-yard TD run for the Wolverines, who play next week against Nazareth or Dunlap.
King ran seven times for 55 yards and was 4-of-9 passing for 57 yards as Oak Lawn (7-3) built its defensive game plan around containing the pass-and-catch duo of King and fellow soph Jalonny Billingsley.
"That's why we try to use our tendencies to our advantage in certain situations and whatnot, knowing that J5 [Billingsley] is going to get a lot of attention," Simeon coach Sinque Turner said. "And we've got a kid that's a track star [Kidd] that we can get the ball to, and he can make some of the same [or] similar plays as Jalonny."
King, meanwhile, has grown into his role after those early losses.
"Just by him going through the things he's been going through over these last 12, 11 games or whatnot, he's gained a lot of experience against a lot of top competition," Turner said. "So he's matured drastically. ... Still a lot of growing to do, but nonetheless, I think the sky's the limit for that kid."
King is seeing the reward for the work he put in over the offseason, with Kidd and the rest of his receivers.
"We've been [doing] seven-on-seven with each other for a year and some change now," King said. "[Kidd is] just a dog, track style. He gets in. the open field, he ain't getting caught."
After Flowers' touchdown, Simeon's defense stepped up with a pair of fumble recoveries and a fourth-down stop at its own two-yard line. Oak Lawn scored with 1:25 left, but missed the extra point and the Wolverines ran out the clock.
Jayden Schlosser ran 23 times for 134 yards and a pair of touchdowns for Oak Lawn. Quarterback Danny Strelow also ran for a short score.
The Spartans have won seven games two years in a row after 15 straight losing seasons, including an 0-9 finish in 2024.
"These seniors, they were a special group," Oak Lawn Ryan Pattison said. "They were a big part of turning around this program last year ... and then this year. ... They just wanted to leave this place better than they found it. And they did that."
