MOUNDSVILLE – John Marshall hasn’t started off a full high school football season with a victory since defeating University 35-28 in 2018. The Monarchs will look to halt that trend Friday night when Marietta visits Monarch Stadium for a 7 o’clock kickoff.

“We haven’t started 1-0 in quite some time,” John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar admitted. “It’s probably been seven or eight years. It would be awesome to start 1-0 and get off on the right foot. If we get a 1-0 start, look out. All we need is confidence and a win on opening night would go a long way towards achieving that.”

The Monarchs did beat Weir, 48-6, in Weirton to begin the COVID-delayed 2020 season. It was actually the third week.

John Marshall and Marietta have met three times previously, with the Monarchs prevailing in the first three (1985-87) by a combined 124-15 as the Tigers won 10-0 last season.

“We’ve been pretty good in our two scrimmages against Edison and Ripley,” Cisar said. “We moved the ball pretty decently against both teams. I was concerned about our defense, but we’ve had some guys step up. You can tell a little bit about a scrimmage, but it’s still not a real game. Hopefully, we can find out what we’ve got in this game.”

Senior Kayden Knapp returns at quarterback for the Monarchs.

“He threw for about 1,500 yards last year,” Cisar recalled. “He’s looked good in the scrimmages, but it all starts with the running game.” Cisar noted.

Dalton Cooper had some breakout performances last season as a freshman. He will start at tailback.

“Dalton has run well in both scrimmages,” Cisar said. “He’s probably faster than most of the guys we’ve had in the past. He had some really good games for us last year as a freshman.”

According to Cisar, Cooper took the first handoff 70 yards to the house against Ripley and had a 50-yard TD jaunt against Edison.

The offensive line has three players back that saw extensive time a year ago.

“Kyle Williams played every game for us. Austin Thayer played the first 5-6 and Gavin Myers played the last 5-6,” Cisar continued.

The wide receivers are a veteran group, led by Cain Martin, Xavier Wells and Landen Snyder.

“All three of those guys had 20-plus catches last year,” Cisar said. “Xavier is a deep threat and caught three touchdowns. Cain and Landen are possession wide receivers.”

Defensively, the Monarchs are very strong at linebacker with Mason Markonich, Hayden Fordyce, Briar Haught and Kain Ankrom.

“We’ve got four pretty good linebackers, but we have no depth behind them,” Cisar admitted.

Cisar and his staff traveled to Marietta last week to watch the Tigers in their 31-16 loss to Morgan. The win stopped a 12-game losing streak by the neighboring Raiders.

“They were in the game at halftime. They were down 10-3 but Morgan scored twice in the third quarter to go up 24-3,” Cisar said.