While Ottawa struggled last season, eighth-year head coach Chad Gross has a dozen and a half players back in key spots and many more with limited or no experience who will be battling for spots left open due to graduation.

“We have a lot of returning kids, 18 I believe, and also a lot of those kids can play a number of different spots for us. We’re going to have a lot of competition within the group,” said Gross. “It’s a little like putting a puzzle together. We feel we have a lot of good pieces to that puzzle, now it’s just finding where they go to not only make the kids better, but our team better.””

The Pirates finished 1-8 overall — the lone win in Week 2 over longtime rival Streator — and 0-5 in Interstate 8 Conference play.

On offense, senior Mark Munson (77-131, 960 yards, 5 INT, 6 TDs) will be under center – or in the shotgun – for the second straight season. At running back will be seniors Archer Cechowicz and Jack Pongracz, as well as juniors George Shumway and Wes Weatherford, while seniors Logan Mills and Ethan Poutre will play fullback.

Ottawa will have senior Owen Sanders and juniors Dane Carretto and Bradyn Streicher at tight end. The wide receiving corps will be seniors Andrew Vercolio, Bryson Valdez and Joey Liebhart. The Pirates will return seniors Evan Paris and Cooper Smith, as well as junior Carter Price to the O-line with seniors Jax Carrier, Charlie Woodyer, Jack Johnson, Stephon Patrick and Diego Martinez seeing time in the trenches as well.

Senior Lucas Farabaugh will again handle the kicking and punting duties.

“We want to be more physical. Bringing more toughness up front is a No. 1 focus,” Gross said. “We felt like, after last season, we needed to re-establish our identity in that area. It’s been a big focus, not only with our linemen, but our backs and tight ends.

“I felt like we were a little passive at times last year, and in turn our running game struggled. With the teams on our schedule, you have to be able to run the ball and run it even when they know you’re going to.”

On the defensive side of the ball, senior Cooper Smith, Carrier and Patrick had starts last season on the line, and will have Johnson, senior Kaden Geiger, junior Landon Mangold, Martinez, Paris and Price rotating in.

The inside linebackers will be Poutre, Woodyer, Weatherford, senior Cameron Hart and junior Jacen Guerrero, while the outside spots will be filled by Liebhart and Mills.

In the secondary, Shumway, Valdez, Vercolio and senior Micheal McGill will be at cornerback, while Cechowicz and junior Dreager Duncan will play safety.

“Defensively we’ve talked a lot about communication on the field,” Gross said. “We need to know what package we are in, what coverage we are in and what our assignments are every single play. We want to play fast, so to do that you have to know things so well that you’re not having to think, but just reacting. We want to get after the ball wherever it is at on the field.

“I feel like we can be a really good defense if we do all of the big things, as well as little things, well.”

Ottawa opens the season Aug. 29 at Plano before hosting regional rivals Streator and La Salle-Peru (nonconference). It’s then at Kaneland, home against Sycamore, at Howard Fellows Stadium against La Salle-Peru (conference), at King Field against Morris, at Rochelle and the finale at home against Granite City.

“Other than Granite City in Week 9, it’s the same opponents for us as last year,“ Gross said. ”We know what each of them are going to try and do, so it is really going to come down to how we execute and if we can be the more physical team that night.

“Even though it’s the start, our first two weeks are very big for us. We know the conference teams we’re going to face after that, it’s one of the toughest leagues in the state, so we’re working towards winning those first two games.

“If we can do that, it will be a huge momentum push for the rest of the season.”