T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - GMG returns seven football letterwinners from last season’s team. From left to right: Caleb Ferch, Ethan Klemesrud, Landon Stonewall, Joaquin Williams, Jacob Cornwell and Connor Rahn; not pictured: Jay Bessman.

GARWIN — GMG football will experience trial by fire this fall.

The majority of the approximately 15 players Wolverines head coach Devon Diederichs expects to play for the 8-man squad this season are underclassmen, as GMG seeks to fill in for six seniors that graduated from last year’s 4-5 campaign.

“The big thing is establishing fundamentals with a lot of these young guys,” Diederichs said. “You can’t make up for experience, but we have a lot of talent in the younger classes that are willing to work. They’ll have to grow up fast in the system, but when we can get them up to speed on how to tackle and block at the varsity level, we can add the extra stuff from there.”

The Wolverines will have to replace virtually all of its offensive output following the graduation of talents like Slate Witte, Jabari Woodbury and Kaleb Gill that were major contributors to the 3,000 yards of offense racked up by GMG.

Three seniors lead GMG this year in two-way players Joaquin Williams and Connor Rahn as well as Jacob Cornwell, coming back out for football for the first time since his sophomore year.

“We lost a lot, but we still have some vocal leaders and guys that lead by example,” Diederichs said.

Landon Stonewall returns for his sophomore season after recording six tackles for loss and four QB sacks as a freshman; and junior Jay Bessman returns after making five tackles for loss.

GMG was fifth out of seven teams in 8-Man District 4 last year with a 2-4 district record, and it’s likely that the district will be chasing Clarksville and Gladbrook-Reinbeck for the top of the table once again. Clarksville won the district last year only to be ousted by G-R in the state quarterfinals.

The season begins at Collins-Maxwell on Friday.

“I think we’re going to compete every single game,” Diederichs said. “We’ve got guys who are going to compete from whistle to whistle, that’s something they’re very good at and it’s awesome to have that type of group as a coach that you can count on. The results will be what they may but we will go out there and compete.”

GMG Football Schedule

Aug. 30 at Collins-Maxwell, 7 p.m.

Sept. 5 JANESVILLE, 7 p.m.

Sept. 13 at Dunkerton, 7 p.m.

Sept. 20 WATERLOO CHRISTIAN, 7 p.m.

Sept. 27 at Tripoli, 7 p.m.

Oct. 4 CLARKSVILLE, 7 p.m.

Oct. 11 MESKWAKI, 7 p.m.

Oct. 18 at Gladbrook-Reinbeck, 7 p.m.