T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - The East Marshall football team has high hopes for its 2023 season thanks to 11 returning letterwinners. The 10 pictured are (from left) front row: Blake Fisher, Kaleb Grant, Jacob Farrington, Carter Lavender and Connor Hassin; back row: Jonathan Sanders, Drew Wheater, Nicholas Backen, Wyatt Stalzer and Zach Denham; not pictured: John Edel.

LE GRAND — Quarterback Jacob Farrington was thrust into a trial by fire as a sophomore last season, stepping in for an injured starter and holding the reins through the pain of East Marshall football’s third winless season in the last decade.

Through the heat and the pressure, the Mustangs are expecting metamorphic change in 2023.

Now a junior, Farrington is one of 10 East Marshall football players who are back on the roster after enduring the lowest of the low, suffering through one of seven winless seasons in Class 1A last season.

East Marshall’s 0-8 campaign has become a distant memory, however, and it has to be in order to turn things around. The Mustangs have had four winless seasons since 2011 and just one winning season — they went 5-4 in 2017 — in that same span, but hopes are high in spite of last season’s struggles.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to have a bunch of players who know what a winless football team looks like in order to avoid resembling one the next time around.

“Last year exists only from the standpoint of effort,” said East Marshall head coach Greg Lee. “This group is about football. Their attitude and their expectation is we’re here to play football, we’re here to get better, we’re here to help each other, and I’m really excited about that part of it. This is about us and has nothing to do with last year. We really don’t talk about it other than the effort. We’re in a better position and that’ll give us a chance to be a better football team if we keep that going all year long.

“We think we’re capable of a winning season. We think we’re capable of making the playoffs. And for us that would be a big step after losing 10 seniors and having no wins, but they’ve got me believing.”

Lee said a January meeting between himself and assistant coach Scott Wheater is where this season began, as a dedication to getting guys in the weight room looks to have made a difference.

“We had a really good turnout the whole time … and in the summer we just continued it and that’s the first time we’ve been able to do that and get kids to participate,” Lee said. “I’m excited about that because we’ve got some really good examples of how kids have physically changed since that time.”

The district has changed, too. The Mustangs remain in Class 1A as a member of District 6, where they will be joined by South Hardin and Waterloo Columbus as well as Class A promotees Alburnett, Hudson and reigning champion Grundy Center.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette ranks Grundy Center atop its preseason poll and lists Columbus tied for sixth.

“Everybody’s got problems,” Lee joked, “but it’s better than the district we’ve been in the last few years with Denver, Dike-New Hartford and Aplington-Parkersburg. Grundy’s our first district game, but right now we’re just focused on BCLUW. We have been since Day 1, and to me if we can get off on the right foot it’d be a big, big help to the program if we could knock them off.”

Last season’s opener against the Comets went to overtime, where BCLUW marched right down the middle of the Mustangs’ defense for the deciding score and a 20-14 win. It led to a 4-4 season for the Comets and was a bad omen for the rest of the fall for East Marshall.

“That kind of set the tone for the whole year for them and for us,” Lee said. “In the end they did the quarterback sneak and won the game and ran it down our throats. That’s what we’ve been preaching, that last year at the end BCLUW wanted it worse than we did, they worked hard, and we’re just not going to let that happen this year.”

The anticipation comes despite a young roster, but the Mustangs feel they have a lot of the necessary parts to turn things around. Farrington’s year of experience, though untimely as it arrived last season, will pay dividends this fall.

“He’s one of the guys who have been in the weight room and he’s bigger, faster and stronger,” Lee sasid.

Farrington threw for 775 yards last year, completing 65 of 145 attempts for six touchdowns but 10 interceptions. The Mustangs have a richer pool of targets, they feel, with a group that includes Connor Hassin, Carter Lavender, Blake Fisher, Jonathan Sanders, Blake Neuroth, Cody Weaver,

Lucas Bowie, as well as cross country runner Kaleb Grant.

An important piece of the puzzle will be Drew Wheater’s move from the offensive line into the backfield, even though the 6-foot, 205-pound fullback hasn’t carried the ball in a varsity game before, but he’s as durable as any back and a capable lead blocker as well.

Three offensive linemen — Zach Denham, Johnathan Edel and Nicholas Backen — gained experience up front last fall and will help the Mustangs in their quest to run a varied attack. Wyatt Stalzer will join the mix up front as well.

East Marshall will need to diversify after finishing 40th out of 48 teams in 1A last fall with 1,346 total yards of offense. The Mustangs’ ground game ranked 44th with just 488 yards.

Wheater will hold down the Mustang defense from his middle linebacker position, where he’ll be flanked by the likes of Hassin and Xavier Slifer. Denham and Fisher will find time at linebacker as well, and East Marshall’s defensive backfield is its deepest unit. Neuroth and Lavender “played really well in 7-on-7 this summer,” according to Lee, who sees all his offensive skill players contributing in the secondary.

East Marshall gets non-district home games against BCLUW and then Saydel to start the season before traveling to face Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in Week 3.

“Even though we’re younger than we have been, I just think mentally we’re in a better place and that’s exciting coming off a really rough season,” Lee said. “The way they play, they’re fun to watch regardless of how things turn out. I think the people in the stands will realize that the boys are getting after it, they’re into and and their effort is there. And I think that starts with their parents and I really think getting it going in January started to build some confidence and togetherness.”

2023 SCHEDULE

Aug. 25 BCLUW, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 1 SAYDEL, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont

Sept. 15 GRUNDY CENTER

Sept. 22 at South Hardin

Sept. 29 HUDSON

Oct. 6 at Waterloo Columbus

Oct. 13 at Alburnett

* all games 7 p.m. unless noted