MOUNDSVILLE — The John Marshall Monarchs are approaching the 2024 season with expectations to improve upon last season, where they finished 1-9, but also clear-eyed about the challenges they will have to work to overcome for that to happen.

Last year, it was the offensive line which was a seasoned strength of the team, while several skill position spots had new faces in them. This year, it’s quite the opposite.

“Last year was a disappointing season for us, we went 1-9,” Monarch head coach Mark Cisar said. “We also lost a lot of linemen, we’re replacing all of our linemen, we have one guy who actually played on the line, Silas Summers, he was our sixth lineman last year and he got a couple starts throughout the season. He’s really our only lineman returning.

“We do have a lot of skills guys back, a lot of receivers back, we’ve got our starting quarterback from last year back with us this year, Kayden Knapp. Obviously we’ve got our tailback back, who was probably most of our offense, Maverick Lemasters, a second team all-stater. He’s probably going to be our main go-to guy on offense again this year. We’ve got a good fullback who’s going to replace Brady Deem from last year, Isaac Swauger, who was a transfer last year when school had started. We have some skill guys back, the line is going to be the big question. Our skill guys did some good things last year and we’re going to build off that going into this year.”

Knapp (6-3, 190), a junior, had highs and lows as he was thrust into the starting role last year. Now with a full season under his belt, and another year of growth, Cisar expects his signal-caller to take a step forward this time around.

“He’s grown from last year,” Cisar said of Knapp. “It’s the game experience- sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn’t go well. He struggled at times last year but he’s got a year of growth, he’s got a load of reps under his belt, he’s got leadership qualities from last year, and he’s been in battle. That should definitely help him this year and help us immensely offensively.”

Coach Mark Cisar on the upcoming season

Sophomores Landon Snyder (5-10, 145) and Jacob Cisar (5-10, 145) will also be in the QB room, the two also taking reps at wide receiver and defensive back.

LeMasters (6-0, 205) was the engine for the Monarchs offense last year as a junior, and returns for his senior year coming off a 1,248-yard, nine total-touchdown campaign. Fellow senior Carter Adkins (5-8, 145) will factor into the run game as the primary back to spell LeMasters.

Senior Isaac Swauger (5-9, 215) and sophomore Marshall Holland (5-9, 205) will also be in the mix at tailback.

Senior Brooks Harrison (5-10, 175), junior Mason Markonich (5-8, 171), and sophomores Kain Ankrom (6-0, 185), Colten Haught (5-10, 160) and Hayden Fordyce (5-10, 175) are listed as fullbacks, and will also play into the linebacking corps heavily.

LeMasters, Markonich and Harrison figure to make a linebacking trio which Cisar will lean on, and emphasize in a new defensive scheme.

“We’re switching up our defense a little bit this year,” Cisar said. “We have a lot of decent linebackers, we’re talking six to eight deep at linebacker. We’re trying to get athletes on the field who can make tackles. We have a lot of guys back on defense. We’ve got all three starting linebackers back- Brooks Harrison, Maverick Lemasters in the middle, Mason Markonich- that’s a great three-man core.

“Cain Martin, Hayden Gaiser is back in the secondary, Carter Adkins is back. We probably have eight guys coming back on defense, which we struggled a little bit with last year, we gave up a lot of points. We’re going to change it up a little bit this year, let our athletes make more tackles this year, free them up and go from there.”

Seniors Hayden Gaiser (6-0, 165), Luke Beaton (5-10, 145) and Kaden Bungard (6-1, 180), juniors Zeke Young (5-10, 145), Jacob Thomas (5-9, 150), Hunter Ewing (5-11, 150), Cain Martin (5-8, 150), Xavier Wells (6-2, 180), Cannon Goddard (5-8, 145) and Bryar Haught (6-0, 165), and sophomore Clay McCord (5-10, 155) make up the wide receiving corps, each also a part of the defensive back room, aside from Haught, who is in the mix at linebacker.

“Hayden Geiser’s going to be a big part of the offense, Cain Martin’s going to be a big part of the offense,” Cisar said. “Those are two guys who played a bunch last year. Kaden Bungard’s another receiver who’s back, he had plenty of playing time last year. Xavier Wells another receiving that’s back this year. Skill guys-wise, we have some guys back who can do some good things. We lose Dimario [White], we lost a couple other seniors who were also very productive.”

Senior Eugene Henry III (6-1, 215) is listed as a tight end on offense, and Cisar pointed to him as a player who can help the Monarchs at defensive end.

“Defense can be a strong point for us- but we got torched a lot last year,” Cisar considered.

“The good thing is a lot of those guys who were out there last year had a good offseason and have more experience. Hopefully we’re improved, especially in our tackling.”

The Monarchs have to put together a new offensive line, though they feel comfortable with the keystone of the unit, senior center Silas Summers (5-10, 270).

“One way or another the guys on the offensive line got a lot of reps last year,” Cisar said of his offensive line. “Whether that was JV, a little bit of varsity, or even a couple of the guys who were freshmen last year, sophomore this year, they look pretty good.

“Silas is probably going to be our center. We also have beside him a couple guys who got a lot of reps. Kyle Williams is going to be in the mix, Allick Summers is going to be in the mix. Gage Wright will be in the mix, Gage Hercules, Aiden Price, Austin Thayer, Clay Howard, Brooks Harrison might have to move to the offensive line because we’re short on numbers on the offensive line.”

Hercules (6-0, 180), Allick Summers (6-2, 230), Howard (5-10, 180) and Hudson Markwas (5-10, 230) are seniors, Price (5-10, 210) and Williams (5-8, 250) are juniors, and Noah Grigsby (5-7, 180), Markus Stasal (6-0, 240), Thayer (5-11, 220) and Owen Porter (6-0, 175) are sophomores. They all figure to play along the line on offense, defense or both.

“A lot of guys last year, even though the season didn’t go well, they got a lot of reps,” Cisar said. “That’s what we’re going to hang our hat on and we’ll go into this year looking to transfer that into some Ws.”

Cisar has coached John Marshall football since 2022. He is assisted by Joel Sansone, Griffin Yocum, Eddie Anderson, LJ Winland, Sam Ames, Art Kaste, Lance Phillips, Johnny Caruso and Zak Klemm.