John Marshall’s Jacob Coffield (14) is tripped up as he fights for yardage Friday night against Linsly.

GLEN DALE — Entering the 2023 season, the John Marshall Monarchs are decreeing a new edict — head coach Mark Cisar and his crew aim to dominate their opposition in the trenches.

Coming off a 4-6 season, the Monarchs are adapting to their new collection of players by moving away from their previous spread system and diving head-first into a new identity as a bruising, smash-mouth football team.

As John Marshall looks to have a successful, winning season, establishing an identity is a key first step against a tough slate of opponents.

“Our expectations are high,” Cisar said. “We return a bunch of offensive linemen, a bunch of defensive linemen on both sides of the ball. Our expectation is to make the playoffs, that’s our goal every year, is to get in the playoffs, and then let’s see what happens.”

“Our schedule is very good, it’s very competitive. Last year, of our 10 teams we played, six teams made the playoffs. It’s the same caliber this year, a very challenging schedule. But we still have great expectations and it all starts with our line play.”

Cisar and his staff’s decision to lean on their linemen was not ill-informed — the Monarchs are set to boast one of the biggest lines in the area, with an average weight of 279 pounds, and two linemen topping 300 pounds.

Coach Mark Cisar on the upcoming season

“At left tackle will be Andreas Hunter, big kid, 6-5, 305,” Cisar said. “Beside him will be Caleb Yates, who will be moving from center to guard, and our center will be Scotty Schenerlein, who last year was our No. 6 lineman, but ended up getting a ton of reps in at different spots.

“Then we’ve got a two-year starter coming back at guard, Victor McElwee. Then we’ve got a new guy filling in at right tackle this year, he got a ton of reps last year in JV and who’s done a good job for us this summer, Tanen McNeil. Four guys who played a ton for us last year on the offensive line, and they’re all really big, really strong kids.”

Also in the mix will be Aiden Price, Bo Drake, Mason Markonich, Kyle Williams, Kreyton Gallaher, Josh Kaste, Silas Summers, Hudson Markwas, Jason Minor, Allick Summers, Willie Vessels, and Gage Hercules. With familiarity, experience — all five starters are seniors — size and grit, the Monarchs will march to the drum of their big boys up front.

“It all starts with our line on offense,” Cisar said. “We’ll go as far as our line goes.”

“Last year we were more spread, more three, four-wide. This year we’re packing it in a little bit, and we’re going to lean on our o-line this year. We’re going to depend on them to win games. We’re going to control the ball, and see what they can do. That’s the goal going in, now could that change? Absolutely that can change, but right now that’s our goal.”

There remains a question to be answered for the Monarchs: who will be under center, taking snaps from their prime line? John Marshall has a quarterback contest on its hands, between sophomores Kayden Knapp and Jackson Helms.

“Right now, neither one has really taken the spot, they’re still competing for the spot,” Cisar said. “Both of them provide different things, one’s got a stronger arm, one may roll out a little better than the other one. They’re both sophomores, it’s nice, we’ll have them for two more years after this year. Hopefully we can run it, we don’t think we’ll throw it a ton this year, but if we have to they’re very capable of throwing the ball.”

Conor Fitzpatrick and Quinton West will be John Marshall’s specialists this year.

Hayden Gaiser was also in the mix at quarterback, but the Monarchs staff has transitioned him to wide receiver.

“He’ll be a great receiver, very athletic,” Cisar said.

Senior Dimarion White figures to be “our main guy on the outside,” Cisar said, along with senior Mason Hagedorn, sophomore Xavier Wells, and junior Kaden Bungard. Also in the mix to catch passes out wide for John Marshall is Hunter Dunfee, Jacob Thames, Gavin Mason, Cain Martin, Curtis Whorton, Luke Beaton, Ryan Hughes, Bryar Haught, Alexander Calissie and Waylon Wysong.

Where the Monarchs really want to hone in on is the running game. John Marshall is set to roll out a menagerie of skill sets and personnel to run the rock behind the offensive line.

At fullback, John Marshall is eyeing Brady Deem, Andrew Lyons and Eugene Henry III. All three can also play tight end. Henry will see most of his playing time in-line.

“We’ll have Brady Deem who plays fullback, also will play some tight end. We’ll also have Andrew Lyons who will play fullback, also some tight end. We have a nice tight end this year, our main tight end will be Eugene [Henry III]. Eugene does a great job blocking so it just compounds on our running game.”

Junior Maverick LeMasters is moving from fullback to tailback, and is prepared for a full workload this fall.

“Maverick LeMasters will probably not come off the field this year,” He’s a tailback, he’s a linebacker, he’s a team leader, and he’s only a junior, so expect good things out of him.”

“Maverick LeMasters will probably not come off the field this year. He’s a tailback, he’s a linebacker, he’s a team leader, and he’s only a junior, so expect good things out of him.”

Two-way play will be close to the norm for the Monarchs this season, a challenge Cisar wants his team to be ready for.

“That’s probably our biggest thing right now- we’ve got a lot of guys who are going both ways right now so we’ve got to be in-shape. We do have 13 seniors, but at the same time a lot of guys are going to play both-ways because the positions they’re in, we’re thin. We do have a lot of young guys, freshmen and sophomores, but they’re not ready for varsity action right now. Maybe we get through the season a little bit, they get reps, maybe they can help us out.”

“Right now we got a lot of guys who play offensive line and defensive line, who play tailback and linebacker, who play receiver and cornerback. It’s not ideal in triple-A, but we’re going to be in good shape and they’re not going to come off the field. We’re going to put the best 11 we got on both sides of the ball.”

Hunter, Yates and Schenerlein are penciled in as the defensive interior, while Brady Deem and Andrew Lyons will see time on the ends.

Next to LeMasters, Donovan Jones and Mason Markonich are competing to start at linebacker. Senior Curtis Whorton will provide experience as an outside linebacker.

In the secondary, Bungard and White will see plenty of time, along with many of the other wide receivers.

Eugene Henry III, Brooks Harrison, Bryar Haught and Kaiden Jarrett are some other names in the linebacker room. Clay Howard will compete at tight end and defensive end.

“A lot of the same names you hear on the offensive side of the ball, you’ll hear on the defensive side of the ball.”

Cisar is assisted by Joe Sturgill, Joel Sansone, Griffin Yocum, Bob Ripley, Eddie Anderson, Keith Knapp, Scott Jones, Art Kaste, Sam Ames, LJ Winland, and Austin Skrzyneki.