PHOTO PROVIDED - West Marshall’s pursuit of a sixth-straight district title will be buoyed by eight returning letterwinners. Pictured are (from left) front row: Ben Gonzalez, Aiden Knea, Andrew Tollefson and Jace Eich; back row: Vincent Clawson, Dillon McMorran, Carson Davis and Preston Reese.

STATE CENTER — West Marshall football rolls into a new season with a lot of unknowns. A daunting schedule of non-district games will help the Trojans answer those questions.

Head coach Cody Hackett enters his 10th season at the helm of his alma mater having graduated his entire offensive line and a three-year starting quarterback, leaving a lot of blanks in the lineup waiting to be filled.

None appear to be as prominent as the hole left by the graduation of quarterback Peyton Hart, who compiled 3,110 yards passing, 2,748 yards rushing and a total of 80 touchdowns during his three-year run at the reins of the Trojan offense.

Senior Carson Davis, a wide receiver a year ago, will fill that void at signal caller despite entering this season having taken no varsity snaps at quarterback.

“We were very fortunate, I think in my tenure here we’ve only had about three or four quarterbacks in nine years,” said Hackett, whose team has claimed five straight district titles. “This year’s going to be a little different with a new guy back there that really has no experience other than maybe a few snaps here or there at the JV level or the frosh level, so we’re trying to simplify things for him and make it easy for his job so he’s not forcing things or doing things he’s not comfortable doing.

“Things are going to change a little bit until we know once we get to a game what he’s able to do and what we can branch out and do offensively. It’s a lot different but it’s one of those things I look forward to is how much our quarterback can grow.”

The Trojans will be measured from the get-go, opening the season at home against budding rival Nevada. West Marshall escaped with a 35-31 triumph over the Cubs last fall, but the Cedar Rapids Gazette has polled Nevada at No. 5 in Class 3A. The Gazette ranks the Trojans 10th in 2A to start the season.

The Trojans’ schedule follows with road games at 1A No. 5 South Hamilton and 3A No. 8 Hampton-Dumont-CAL.

“The first three weeks is definitely going to tell us where we’re at as a team,” said Hackett. “Our first three weeks are going to be tough, and we fortunately got to scrimmage (Class A defending champion) Grundy Center last Friday night, so these first four weeks are really going to tell us a lot. We learned a lot against Grundy, so it’ll be good to get these games early on to tell us where we’re at and what we really need to get better at before we start district play.”

West Marshall hasn’t lost a district game in the last three seasons, but plenty of challenges remain after the redistricting process. The Trojans are the only team in 2A’s District 6 to boast more than five wins last season, even if it took a 13-12 squeaker over PCM last fall to keep the streak alive.

The Mustangs — who went 5-4 last fall — are still in West Marshall’s district, along with Iowa Falls-Alden (2-7), Union Community (2-7), Vinton-Shellsburg (2-7) and Jesup (1-7). Vinton-Shellsburg slides down from 2A.

No team in the district has fewer returners that West Marshall.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us so we’ll see where we’re at and see if we can get a little better each week and see where we’re at by the end of the year,” Hackett said. “It’s a small returning group. A few of them have some experience from a year ago, but we just don’t have a big senior class so we’re trying to get our sophomores and juniors on board to what we’re doing.

“We’re working at a little bit slower pace with a lot of new guys, just taking things slower to make sure we’re hitting on all the technique fundamentals that are going to be huge for this group to be successful.”

Davis is one of West Marshall’s eight returning letterwinners from a team that went 9-1 last fall. Fellow seniors Dillon McMorran, Preston Reese and Andrew Tollefson are joined by juniors Vincent Clawson, Ben Gonzalez, Jace Eich and Aiden Knea.

“It’s a small returning group, so we’ve got some guys coming back that are going to have to play even bigger roles, not just on the field but also with their leadership at practice,” Hackett said. “It’s a small group but it’s a fun group. They work hard, they show up every day, they have a good attitude and their leadership’s continuing to grow, which is only going to make this team better.”

Gonzalez carred the football 168 times for 1,398 yards and 14 touchdowns, while Eich had nine receptions for 307 yards and three touchdowns last season, representing two of the Trojans’ top offensive weapons. Reese also caught 14 passes for 187 yards and two TDs.

Whether or not Davis can get the ball to all his weapons remains to be seen, but Hackett likes his chances.

“Carson has played receiver for us and he’s played a few quarterback reps in the past, so he is familiar with the offense and what we do and what we expect and ask of him — he just hasn’t had a lot of reps doing it,” Hackett said. “He’s a smart kid, he’s a vocal kid so he does a nice job using his leadership skills that way.

“He’s a kid that’s a little bit faster and maybe can escape some pressure and help us in that aspect.”

That may be a necessity based on West Marshall’s lack of experience up front thanks to the graduation of five starting linemen. The Trojans are using a rotation of seven or eight players to fill out their front five, including Clawson, Brady Larson, Anthony Jovanovich, Gage Sawyer and Luke Steward. Connor Schuler, Todd Peters and Skylar Hanford may work their way onto the line at some point as well.

“It’s going to be crucial the next couple weeks to see what each one can do and who’s our best group of five guys that’s going to help us win the game,” Hackett said. “We’re trying to get this group molded, working together, communicating together to obviously help our backfield and our receivers do their thing.”

West Marshall’s stout defense has some experience in the backfield with Reese and Eich, while McMorran will be the middle linebacker and the signal caller on that side of the ball. AJ Dee, Josh Pinnick, Clawson and Larson lead the defensive front, which will rotate up to seven players. Michael Lechnir, Gonzalez and either Kinnick Geers or Dawson Goodman will surround McMorran as linebackers, while Davis, Tollefson and Caden Pfantz will join in as defensive backs.

No matter how the Trojans line up or who they line up against, the expectations remain the same in State Center year after year.

“We expect to win every game that we approach,” Hackett said. “We expect a win every Friday night, it doesn’t matter who we play. Once you get that mindset right, I think you’ll perform better when it gets to Friday night.”

“We have high expectations with the tradition and success we’ve had here and there’s no reason these guys can’t do it. Yeah we might be a little bit younger, we might go through some growing pains, but our expectation is to win and play your hardest.”

2023 SCHEDULE

Aug. 25 NEVADA

Sept. 1 at South Hamilton, 7 p.m.

Sept. 8 at Hampton-Dumont, 7 p.m.

Sept. 15 VINTON-SHELLSBURG

Sept. 22 at Jesup

Sept. 29 IOWA FALLS-ALDEN

Oct. 6 at PCM

Oct. 13 UNION COMMUNITY

* all games 7:30 p.m. unless noted