Evan Les has taken a circuitous route to becoming St. Laurence’s starting quarterback.

He started out his high school football career as the third-stringer on the freshman team for the Vikings, then was the backup his junior season to transfer Danny Fitzpatrick. This year, he also had to partake in a preseason position battle with junior Tim Hyland.

But now, Les has been more for St. Laurence. He has the keys to a high-powered offense and he’s making the most of it, leading the Vikings to the Class 4A state quarterfinals.

“It’s been kind of tough sledding waiting for an opportunity,” Les said. “And I’m glad as a senior I got the reins to the offense.”

Les was on point in Saturday’s 31-21 second-round win over Dixon. He completed 7 of 14 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 152 yards on 17 carries, including a 77-yard TD.

That helped propel 11th-seeded St. Laurence (8-3) to 4 p.m. Saturday game at seventh-seeded IC Catholic (9-2) in Elmhurst. The Vikings didn’t play the Knights in the CCL/ESCC regular season, but did beat Providence and Benet while losing close games to powerful St. Francis, St. Rita and Montini.

According to Les, it’s the big difference maker in the playoffs for the Vikings — strength of schedule.

“We probably played three or four teams during the regular season that could win a state championship,” he said. “It sets us up to compete in our own class.”

Les has proved this season he’s as potent an offensive force as senior teammates Aaron Ball, a running back, and Connor Engstrom, a senior.

Nowhere was that more indicative than that 77-yard rushing TD against Dixon.

“It was a read-option, outside zone, I had the opportunity to pull the ball, and there was a lot of space for me to run,” he said. “I’m not a truckin’ guy. I’m running and trying to find out how to angle myself away from guys … How can I avoid getting caught?”

Les can throw, too, and one pass in particular has been pretty special for him.

In a 64-0 opening-round victory over Chicago Vocational at Gately Stadium, he connected with his sophomore brother, Cory, on a 70-yard TD pass.

To be fair, the play was a 5-yard screen pass before his little brother took it the rest of the way. But still, it was the first ever Les-to-Les TD pass, something that will go down in family history.

This is the first football season the brothers have played together, and it’s something that Evan has enjoyed every last minute.

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“Car rides home, everything, it’s great,” he said. “It’s something special to be able to share the field with my brother. It’s one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in my life.”

Ditto for Cory, but when he’s just one of 11 players on the field, he notices a strong leader behind center.

“I see someone who’s always going to be in the right,” he said. “He’s always going to be a role model, acting right. He knows when the situation needs him to be vocal or not vocal, lifting up teammates and stuff.”

Evan Les also plays baseball for St. Laurence, and thus he’s not beholden to one sport or the other after graduation. The one thing he does know is he wants to play a sport in college.

Adam Nissen, the Vikings’ football coach, believes Les has what it takes to succeed.

“I don’t know what he’s going to do,” Nissen said. “But if he wants to play football, there will be 1,000% opportunities for him.”

Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.