By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2025 season on Sept. 4 and 5.
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Logan Pegram's Silver Lake football put together a solid 7-3 season in 2024, but the way the year ended left a sour taste in the Eagles' mouths while also stoking the fires for this fall.
Former Silver Lake football star Logan Pegram is starting his fourth season as the Eagles' head coach, leading Lake to a 21-8 record over the past three years. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After beating Council Grove by 17 points in a district game last fall, the Eagles dropped a disappointing 30-8 decision to the Braves in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.
"It left a bad taste in our mouth,'' Pegram said. "The guys know and we know that we all want to do the things that we're capable of doing, so any time you're not playing on Thanksgiving it's tough because it's where we want to be.''
"This is starting Year 4 for me and it's the group we had as freshmen and every year it's gotten better to start the season. They know the expectations and they know what we're doing and I think the way things ended last year, with beating that team two weeks before that and then losing it when it mattered, I think that's lit a fire and it's kind of pushed us.''
The Eagles, who have captured eight state titles, are 21-8 in Pegram's previous three seasons and return four starters on offense and seven on defense to build this year's team around.
Pegram said that Silver Lake had a productive offseason and summer to get ready for 2025.
"It was great,'' Pegram said. "We have implicit buy in from our community and our kids and our families, so getting them to the weight room and getting them to do what we ask them to do and the extracurricular things we do with 7 on 7 and camps, we have 100 percent buy in with that and that's never been a battle.''
Offensively the Eagles return junior lineman Myles Fisher and sophomore lineman Kendrick Vande Velde, senior running back Bryson Burgos and senior wide receiver Dayne Johnson.
Defensively Silver Lake returns Johnson at safety, Vande Velde in the defensive line and Fisher at linebacker along with senior Samson Webber in the defensive line, senior Jayden Waterer at linebacker, senior Joel Miller at cornerback and senior Grady Bergmann at safety.
Johnson received TopSports.news All-Shawnee County Top 22 honors a year ago after catching 51 passes for 835 yards and nine touchdowns and picking off six passes on defense.
Fisher and Vande Velde received all-county honorable mention last season while Bergmann received All-Big East honorable mention.
Pegram said he thinks several other Eagles are capable of breakout seasons in 2025.
That group includes senior Paxton Willett, sophomore Dom Monhollon, senior Brady Hogle, sophomore Mason VanVactor, sophomore Carter Spreer, senior Thomas Fisher, freshman Drew Womack, sophomore Sawyer Hermesch and sophomore Jake Workman.
Silver Lake graduated quarterback Dysen Schooler and senior Ben Renfro, junior Jett Ross and freshman Kiptton Kruger are all in the mix to run the Eagle offense this fall.
Silver Lake opens its 2025 season on the road Sept. 5 in the continuation of the fabled 'War on 24' rivalry with Rossville, with the Eagles and Bulldawgs squaring off in the opener for the second straight season.
The Eagles will also be on the road in Week 2, traveling to Nemaha Central on Sept. 12.
SILVER LAKE
2025 football schedule
September -- 5 at Rossville, 12 at Nemaha Central, 19 Perry-Lecompton, 26 St. Marys.
October -- 3 Baldwin, 10 at Riley County, 17 Osage City, 24 at Council Grove.
Next up: Topeka High.
