JEROMESVILLE — Kael Lewis had to get his wisdom teeth pulled last Friday.
He was told not to do any weight lifting for about a week because of it.
It seems to be the only thing that could come close to holding down the Hillsdale sports star following a junior year that finished in a way perhaps no Ashland-area athlete has ever experienced.
Lewis, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound soon-to-be senior for the Falcons, was named All-Ohio in three different sports, landing on the first-team all-state list in football (Division VII), the second-team list in baseball (Division VI) and the honorable-mention list in basketball (Division VII).
That uber-rare trifecta came after he helped lead Hillsdale to its second straight state championship game as its quarterback in football; the school’s first-ever Final Four in basketball as its go-to post player; and an 18-11, district finalist season as the baseball team’s top hitter.
Lewis admitted the All-Ohio accolades were in the back of his mind before his spring started on the diamond.
“I talked to my dad before the baseball season and I told him I wanted to be a three-sport All-Ohioan because not many people can do that, especially as a junior,” Lewis said. “I thought it would be pretty cool to do.”
“Pretty cool” is one way to put it.
Sure, after recent expansion, there are more divisions now in all Ohio high school sports than ever. But simply to be a three-sport athlete — let alone a three-sport star athlete — is performing on another level entirely.
Hillsdale’s baseball head coach, Jason Snow — who has coached varsity sports at four different schools around the area (also Ashland, Loudonville and New London) — said as much.
“It’s different with (more divisions now), but there aren’t a lot of three-sport athletes now, either,” Snow said. “Even to get two All-Ohio awards in the same year, and the bigger schools you go to, a lot of those kids are one-sport athletes. To see (three in one year) just shows the athletic ability and the work ethic.”
Ben Ferguson, the boys basketball head coach for the Falcons, has known Lewis since he was born, having been friends with his father, Joe Lewis.
He’s coached Kael on the hardwood as far back as second grade and said time has proven he’s one of the most competitive people he’s ever met.
“If he picked up checkers, I think he’d be All-Ohio in checkers,” Ferguson said. “If this guy went out for soccer next year, he’d be an All-Ohio soccer player. If he went out for track, there’s no doubt he’d be All-Ohio in track, too.”
Football
Around the area (and the state), Lewis likely is known most for what he’s done on the football field.
Since he took over as Hillsdale’s varsity quarterback his sophomore year, the Falcons have gone 27-4 with a pair of appearances in the Division VII state championship game. Prior to his arrival, the entire Ashland area had seen only one team ever make it to a state title game in football (Loudonville in 1990).
“In any room that he walks into, his goal is to be the hardest worker,” Hillsdale football head coach Trevor Cline said. “If you have that mentality, you are going to make significant progress in whatever sport you’re in.
“When it’s one of your best players who handles it that way, it has a positive impact on the entire team.”
In any room that he walks into, his goal is to be the hardest worker.
Hillsdale football coach trevor cline on Kael Lewis
Lewis earned his first All-Ohio honors after his sophomore season in football, when he was a second-team all-stater behind 3,053 passing yards and 35 touchdown passes — both single-season records for the Falcons.
He’ll enter his senior year already holding Hillsdale’s career standards for passing touchdowns (62) and yards (5,516), and Lewis has NCAA Division II offers to play at both Ashland University and Walsh University.
He said more schools have shown interest in him, but he’s not sure if he’ll have more offers before his senior season kicks off.
Lewis attended double-digit football camps across multiple states in June, balancing that with a hectic summer basketball schedule and a few travel baseball games.
He said it was the busiest month of his life, adding that putting so much time into all three sports has probably hindered his chances to get more college interest in football to this point.
Regardless, he said he’s ready to finish big on the gridiron, where he feels he’s got the best overall strength and speed he’s ever had.
“I’m in the best spot I’ve been so far (physically),” Lewis said, “so that feels pretty good going into senior year.”
“I remember telling people that, if he kept progressing the way he had – when it was all said and done — he would be the best quarterback that’s ever played at Hillsdale,” Cline said. “So far, he’s lived up to that.
“You wish you had one of him coming off the line every year, but that’s just not how it works.”
Basketball
If there was a shocker among the sports heights Lewis has reached, it would be in basketball.
While he’s played since his early days in elementary school, he said he nearly left the sport after his freshman season so he could focus on football and baseball.
But he decided to return as a sophomore and scored nearly 200 points for a Falcons squad that advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001.
Then this past winter, Lewis said he made his biggest one-year improvements in any sport during the basketball season.
As one of the most physical post players in the area and the Wayne County Athletic League, he averaged 16.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
On Valentine’s Day, he shocked basketball followers when he broke Hillsdale’s single-game scoring record with 44 points against Mansfield St. Peter’s.
“If someone would have told me that I would break the single-game scoring record, I would have told them they were lying,” Lewis said. “I still don’t really believe it; it’s weird how that whole thing happened because I don’t know if I had even scored more than 30 in a game before that.”
That night was simply a precursor to one of the most memorable basketball runs in Ashland-area history. The Falcons won 10 consecutive games and found themselves in the Final Four for the first time ever.
“We went down to Florida and played together (in a three-game tournament),” Lewis said, “and after all that, the bond that we created — then going to play at Wright State (in the Final Four) — that was definitely my most favorite memory of my junior year.”
The Falcons finished 20-8 — their most wins in a season in a quarter of a century — and Ferguson said Lewis’ drive was one of the constant driving forces.
“It’s almost at the point where I would call it a mental condition; the dude just loves to win,” said the coach, who added that Lewis doesn’t even lose a sprint during practice. “Once we stretch, he’s competing at everything.
“He just truly willed himself to become one of the better basketball players, as far as productivity, in our area.”
It’s almost at the point where I would call it a mental condition; the dude just loves to win. Once we stretch, he’s competing at everything.
Hillsdale basketball coach ben ferguson on Kael lewis
Baseball
Despite all the flashy moments and numbers Lewis has put together in football and basketball, he said his first love was always baseball.
It might seem like a distant memory now for many, but his first taste of the state tournament actually came on the diamond his freshman season, when Lewis was the starting shortstop for the Falcons on their Final Four team in 2024.
That year, he batted .298 while also collecting two wins and two saves on the mound. In Hillsdale’s regional title game, he had an RBI double and also scored a run in a 3-0 win over Warren JFK.
If he’s healthy next year, Lewis will be the program’s first four-year starter at shortstop since former All-Ohioan Doug Paullin did it nearly 20 years ago.
And even with all the attention on his football future, Lewis said his dream (even though he can’t imagine it would happen) would be to play both football and baseball at the next level.
He recently attended a showcase event at the University of Akron and said it’s been hard for him to cut back on his travel baseball schedule this summer.
“He’s just steadily progressed offensively, and now he’s gotten stronger and bigger from football,” Snow said. “He expects to win and he’s produced. We expect a lot out of him.”
This spring, Lewis batted .361 with six home runs and 31 RBIs while also posting a 5-3 record and a 3.13 ERA on the mound.
His brother, Knox Lewis, also played some for Hillsdale’s Final Four team in 2024 and has been part of all the recent football and basketball state tournament runs.
The catcher for this year’s Falcons, Knox picked up his first All-Ohio citation as a second-teamer as well, batting a team-high .400 with 23 RBIs.
“For baseball, I was happy I was able to show my power a little bit this season,” Kael said. “You can have it, but that doesn’t mean you’re gonna get the opportunity to get those pitches to hit in games. … And with me and Knox both getting All-Ohio, that was awesome.”
“A lot of times, I’ll hear, ‘You’ve got the Lewis kids, right?’ So they kind of come as a pair,” Snow said. “Kael is the flashy one as the pitcher and the shortstop, and Knox is catching, doing the dirty work.”
Transfer?
One of the worst-kept secrets of the 2025-26 school year was the fact that Lewis was open to transferring elsewhere to finish out his high school career.
He said it was a discussion he’d had with his family and some athletes from other schools, adding that if he did land somewhere else, it would have solely been to increase his exposure in the college recruitment process.
“If you’re playing at a bigger school, then you’re going to get more looks,” Lewis said. “It wasn’t anything bad about our school or about the athletes we had coming back, it was more in terms of my future and getting looked at.”
During the basketball season, he said plenty of people were assuming he would be headed elsewhere for his senior year.
Ultimately, though, he wanted to finish in the place where he grew up, where his friends are and where he could finish off a legacy he feels will inspire the younger generations of Falcons.
After Hillsdale’s football team graduated 15 from last year’s state runner-up, Lewis will be just one of five seniors this season.
Despite less depth and plenty of new faces, he said the team’s talent could carry the Falcons to big heights yet again, even if they are now Division VI.
Only a few teams in Ohio have had six extra weeks of practice each of the last two years.
“We definitely need a lot of guys to step up, but there are a lot of guys who have waited their turn because we’ve had two really good teams the last two years,” Lewis said.
“It’s definitely going to be a bigger role that I’m going to take on, but I think anybody that plays sports and is competitive, that’s what you want.”
Cline said Lewis already is among the best-ever quarterbacks to play in the WCAL – regarded as one of the best small-school leagues in the state.
Ferguson said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Lewis work his way from Division II to Division I at the college level if he gets the right opportunity.
As for the three-sport finish, if he can stay healthy, Lewis could put together one of the most impressive high school careers in Ohio history.
Based on his numbers to this point, he has a legitimate chance to clear 500 completions, 8,000 passing yards and 100 passing touchdowns in football; 1,000 points and 600 rebounds in basketball; and 125 hits, 100 RBIs, 100 runs, 15 wins and 150 strikeouts in baseball.
“It’s not just that he was born extremely gifted as an athlete,” Ferguson said. “He’s just wired different.”
