The 15th-ranked Iowa Central football team prepares to enter another season under head coach Jesse Montalto with high hopes on the gridiron.

Up first for the Tritons will be a matchup with Central Lakes-Brainerd out of Minnesota here Saturday afternoon inside Dodger Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.

Coming off another bowl victory, Iowa Central (0-0 overall) returns several key starters from a year ago when they finished 6-6. That includes three players who all made starts at quarterback in Tyler Smith, Ty Purdy and Trevon Taylor.

Smith, Purdy and Taylor combined to toss 21 touchdown passes against just four interceptions. They are joined by transfer Demarcus Creecy as players battling for snaps.

“We had to play a lot of kids last year because of injuries,” said Montalto, who reached 50 wins at Iowa Central last fall. “And while that probably hurt us last season, it definitely gave those guys some excellent experience at the college level.

“Again, we’re battling some minor injuries here in the early going, but we feel like we are ready to go.”

Anthony Hall, CJ Phillip, Dalen Huston, Darrion Gilliam and Jacob Kania are returning skill position players who are joined by the likes of Louisville transfer Kamare Williams. Kuinan Kunary, Alan Pond, Jordan Jensen, Jaime Johnson and Nolan Anderson are among the early favorites to start along the offensive line.

On defense, the Tritons hit the transfer portal hard, bringing in Will Norman and Andre Morris from Florida, Austin Chambers from Aubun, Tristan Davis from Arizona and Jalil Muhammad from LSU.

“We felt like we needed to really upgrade the defense,” Montalto said. “We put a focus on several in-state kids, but for one reason or another, that just didn’t happen.

“But the guys we brought in are all big-time players who are going to make a difference right from the start.”

Returning defensive back Kadarius Williams leads the secondary along with Michigan State transfer Ahmad Grayer, Jaden Turner and Aiden Burrell-Warfield. Taylor Schaefer, Caleb Chebuhar, Christian Barney and Batpiny Riak are linebacker candidates.

Central Lakes-Brainerd (0-1) opened its season last week against Ellsworth, falling 49-0. The Panthers scored 14 in the first and put the game away with 23 points in the second quarter.

The Raiders finished with just three first downs — two of which came by penalty — and minus-12 yards of total offense, throwing five interceptions.

Iowa Central will have a bye following the opener followed by a trip to Kansas to play Highland. They return home on Saturday, Sept. 20 to welcome in defending national champion and No. 1 Hutchinson, followed by a road trip to second-ranked Iowa Western.