Warren could do only so much to disguise the fact that Aaron Stewart was going to run the ball.
After all, the Illinois recruit led the state in carries this season.
“Especially during a game, I’m not thinking about my stats,” Stewart said. “I’m just thinking about winning the game. People tell me all the time about how much I run. But even after a game, I can’t remember what happened. It’s just what I do, and it’s become second nature.”
The 5-foot-7, 185-pound Stewart made it look like second nature as he rose to the occasion for the Blue Devils game after game. By the time the season ended, he had exhibited a level of dominance arguably never seen in Lake County.
Stewart, the 2025 News-Sun Football Player of the Year, finished his senior season with 338 carries for 2,872 yards and 46 touchdowns for North Suburban Conference champion Warren (9-2). He led the state in all three categories.
Stewart’s yardage total was 635 more than the runner-up, even though he played in one fewer game, and ranks 11th in state history. His 46 touchdowns are tied for the fifth-most in a season, and his 438 yards in the Blue Devils’ season-opening win over Hersey rank 16th for rushing yards in a game.
“I had a great season, and that feels good, but that stuff is never really important to me,” Stewart said. “I’m always looking past that to try to win games and reach my goals.”
It’s a measure of Stewart’s belief in his abilities that those goals — 3,000 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns — were set before the season at levels that no other player could reach.
“I got halfway there, but I was expecting 12 games,” he said.
Despite the focus on him, Stewart knows he didn’t do it alone.
“I always make sure to go into games prepared, but it’s not just me,” he said. “For us to be successful, everyone has to do their part.”
But planning for a player like Stewart, a two-time Class 8A all-state pick, certainly gave opposing coaches an interesting perspective.
“He had an incredibly positive impact on his team,” Stevenson coach Brent Becker said. “He’s the type of player that you know will get carries, and he is still able to have success.”
Stewart’s skill set made him difficult to stop.
“I think what makes him special is that he’s able to find really tiny openings in the line and then explode through there,” Lake Zurich coach Ron Planz said. “He has really good vision and is very strong, so he’s really tough to bring down.”
Stewart’s dedication reflects his intent to be a rare two-sport college athlete. He has committed to both Illinois football and Illinois wrestling.
“It’s 365 days per year that I’m trying to get better at both,” he said. “It may be less serious for football now, but recently I’ve been working on my leg drives and also catching passes with a JUGS machine at the school. During football, I’d leave practice and drive to the other campus for wrestling.”
Stewart, a two-time Class 3A state champion in wrestling, is used to the workload.
“After all of the practicing in football and wrestling every day, the football games are the fun part,” he said. “With all of that work, the games are really easy, to be honest.”
Wrestling became part of Stewart’s life after he met Carter Newsome, who is a basketball star at Waukegan. Their fathers had already known each other for years when Stewart went to a home-based day care service run by Newsome’s mother when he was a kid.
Newsome’s father signed him up for wrestling, and Stewart got thrown into the mix. Although Newsome stopped wrestling after the coronavirus pandemic, he still has bragging rights on the mat.
“One time when we were really young, we got put in the same bracket in a tournament,” Newsome said. “We were both crying because we didn’t want to wrestle each other. But I won. We never got that rematch.”
A rematch likely wouldn’t end well for Newsome, who has seen many of the reasons for Stewart’s dominance in two sports.
“Earlier this year in the preseason, I was over at his house, and he was planning to go over to their indoor facility,” Newsome said. “It was him, his dad, and he was working on his reads.
“There have been times when I’ve slept over, and he was up at 5:00 am to go work out. His dedication is next-level.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.