MOUNDSVILLE — When it came to the 2020 season, there was one main factor that John Marshall coach Jason Willis wanted his team to do: get off to a fast start. And boy did the Monarchs respond. They rushed for over 400 yards and threw for 60 more in a 48-6 victory over Weir on Sept. 4 to open their season.

“I thought we played well on both sides of the ball,” John Marshall coach Jason Willis said. “Our defense played really well. I think we held them to under 150 yards and I thought offensively we ran the ball really well. Flowers had a pretty good game, but I thought our quarterbacks (Derrick Derrow, Jacob Coffield) executed what they needed to. I thought we did a good job overall.”

The Monarchs open their home slate as they welcome Preston Friday with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Expecting big things this year, Flowers started his senior campaign on a high note as he paced John Marshall with 292 yards on the ground on 15 attempts while finding the end zone three times. He had two touchdown runs of over 70 yards (77, 74) and one run of 18.

Derrow (31 yards) and Coffield (1) also supplied touchdown runs for the Monarchs as well as Nate Menendez (3).

The Knights, however, didn’t get off to the start they wanted. Thanks to five turnovers, Preston fell to North Marion 32-0. To the defense credit, though, the Knights were in the game going into the third quarter only down 6-0, although they were plagued with four turnovers in the first half.

“I was very disappointed in our focus,” Preston coach Jonathan Tennant said. “We turned the ball over five times, three interceptions, fumbled on the 3 yard line going in and a bad snap. That was disappointing because the score of the game was a lot closer than what the score indicated. We just couldn’t overcome the turnovers and North Marion took advantage of it.”

Leading the way for the Preston offense in its opener was Jacob Townsend. The senior running back finished with 80 yards on 25 carries.

“Two years ago, we went up there and brought 17 injured players,” Tennant said. “I think most of our starters were sophomores at the time. They’re now seniors. I think that year John Marshall had 25 seniors and I think it was 45-0 at halftime. We have to get over that and obviously take care of the football. Right now, we’ve seen on film, we need to stop John Marshall’s run game and not fall asleep on the pass. Offensively, we just have to take care of the football. We moved the ball against North Marion, we just shot ourselves in the foot. We have to be consistent and defensively have to know where No. 15 (Flowers) is and try to slow him down a little bit.”

John Marshall will look to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2018, the first season under Willis.

“We got to control the line of scrimmage and execute in the passing game when we need to,” Willis said. “We need to be physical on defense, get to the ball, have 11 guys run to the ball like we did last week and I think we will be in good shape.”