Genoa-Kingston coach Cam Davekos hopes his team will be flying around the field and seeking out the football.

It helps, he said, to have a player like Owen Zaccard in the middle of it all.

“He just goes 100 miles per hour and doesn’t quit,” Davekos said. “He is a very, very intense football player when he has a job to do and when he has the ball in his hands. He never takes the foot off the gas ... which is awesome.”

Zaccard returns at both linebacker and running back for the Cogs as the team looks for a second straight playoff berth. G-K went 5-5 last season after a 4-5 campaign in 2023.

They qualified for eight of the last nine postseasons and have only missed two since 2013. The season starts Aug. 29 at home against Oregon.

Zaccard and lineman Mason McPeek are the only starters returning on offense. The two of them return on defense as well, along with defensive backs Blake Ides and Jaiden Lee. Cody Cravatta also returns at outside linebacker.

“I’ve seen a lot of speed,” Zaccard said. “These linemen really want to work and I can tell they want it.”

Zaccard’s intensity will help set the tone for the Cogs’ offense, which Davekos said has undergone some tweaks this year. Notably they’re folding in more triple option concepts, he said, with the quarterback being able to hand it off, run it or pass it.

The starting quarterback spot is a big question mark with Cravatta and Lee in a battle.

“We really can put multiple athletes in multiple different spots right now,” Davekos said. “We’re going to evaluate every single day. We film a lot, so we watch film every night. We take that into consideration. And I think our scrimmage this Friday will kind of tell us going forward who the Week 1 starters will be.”

Whoever wins the battle will create a trickle-down effect throughout the offense. The decision will help shape the Cogs’ offensive identity.

“Honestly, it’s a battle, so I’m just working hard,” Cravatta said. “I’m trying to do better than him, obviously, but I’m trying to make sure I make myself and my teammates better at the same time.”

Davekos said Lee has the ability to be the main ball carrier on offense if Cravatta ends up at quarterback, taking some of the wear and tear off of Zaccard.

Ides and Kash Sunderlage will see some carries from the slot in the Cogs’ wing-T, as will wings Anthony Gum and Brycen Wiegartz. Davekos said they’ll need to be strategic with his carries.

“You gotta pull the kid out, really get the hook out to pull him off the field, which is what we want to see,” Davekos said. “But to be realistic, to have him all season healthy, we have to monitor his touches and be most efficient with it.”