Marysville finished 3-7 overall for the team's first sub-.500 record since 2002. In the OCC-Cardinal Division, the Monarchs tied Olentangy for sixth at 2-5, behind champion Westerville South at 7-0.

The season quickly derailed as injuries in the Monarchs' thinnest areas, running back and defensive back, began to mount. Making matters worse, Marysville was without its starting kicker and punter at times.

"This is the first season I can remember losing my kicker and punter," Gafford said. "It was magnified because we weren't hitting on all cylinders before we got hurt.

"When we got hurt, we were an eight-cylinder car running on five."

Marysville entered the season with a cause for hope. The Monarchs were coming off a successful 7-4 season that resulted in a playoff berth. Eight starters to Gafford's triple-option offense returned, as did heightened expectations.

Marysville won its opener over Marion Harding 39-6 on Aug. 28 before losing four consecutive games to Groveport (55-34 on Sept. 4), Bellefontaine (21-19 on Sept. 11), Olentangy Liberty (17-6 on Sept. 18) and Olentangy (21-7 on Sept. 25).

"Last year, all the pieces came together," Gafford said. "All the moves we made seemed to work. This season, the pieces never came together and then broke. Whatever personnel moves we tried to make didn't seem to pan out. Sometimes, you run into stuff like that and this was one of those years."

In the first half of the season, Marysville's starting quarterback, Luke Fleming, and its starting running back, Hayes Chrispin, missed time because of injuries. Plus, the offensive line failed to have the same five starters in consecutive games.

Fleming was entering his third season as the Monarchs starting quarterback. Against Bellefontaine, he bruised his hamstring and played only briefly the following week against Liberty. He finished with 218 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 71 carries. He was also 24-for-68 passing for 369 yards with five touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Marysville earned its second win against Westerville Central 27-17 on Oct. 2.

It appeared the Monarchs' offense was returning to health, but the defense remained bruised and battered.

In losses to Westerville South (49-12 on Oct. 9) and Dublin Jerome (42-21 on Oct. 16), Marysville allowed 648 yards passing and six touchdowns.

"We had five safeties at one time all hurt," Gafford said. "That's a lot of defensive backs to lose. Sometimes that stuff just happens."

Marysville closed the season with a win over Westerville North (37-7 on Oct. 23), followed by a loss to Dublin Scioto (33-17 on Oct. 30). It was the Monarchs' 12th loss in 15 meetings against the Irish.

Before the season began, Marysville changed its defensive scheme. Traditionally, the Monarchs used the stack 4-3 defense, but Gafford changed to the stunt 4-3 defense. The idea behind the switch was to help free returning middle linebacker Dylan Dearwester sideline-to-sideline.

Yet with the injuries to the defensive backs, the Marysville defense allowed an average of 26.8 points per game. Opponents rushed for 1,872 yards and passed for 1,392.

Offensively, senior fullback Nathan Weeks was a consistent leader on and off the field. After the loss to Liberty, Weeks remained positive.

"Coach (Jeff Gafford) always calls it the man-in-the-mirror test," Weeks said. "If you can look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you did everything you could, it doesn't matter the outcome. Win or lose, you're satisfied."

Weeks led the team in rushing yards (965), rushing touchdowns (12) and carries (171).

"He was a consistent 80 to 90 yards every game," Gafford said. "For a fullback in the triple option, that is very, very good. He was just shy of 1,000 yards and we're spreading the ball around to four ball carriers.

Weeks and Fleming are two of 14 seniors Marysville will lose, including Scott Arnold, Brendan Barrett, Bryan Barrett, Tim Braden, Brandon Brake, Justin Brogan, Josh Goad, Andre Phlipot, Colton Rine, Josh Spain, Nick Sparks and Sid Spurlock.