MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Getchell Chargers are gearing up for their third varsity football season and hoping to improve on their success from the 2012 year.

“We have seven total returning players,” said head coach Davis Lura. “On offense we are looking for a quarterback, running back and pretty much our entire line. On defense, we have half of secondary so it’s hard to say right now, until we have our first game.”

Marysville Getchell improved drastically in 2012 from their inaugural season — going 5-5 and qualifying for one state playoff game. In 2011, the first season of varsity sports for the school, the Chargers were 0-10.

“I don’t think we have been rebuilding. Right now it looks like we are going to be reloading,” said Lura. “We just have to build on what our goals were each season, and last year we won some games and went into the playoffs. We are focusing on getting better and I think they are hungry to compete right now. What we are doing during practice is we are bringing in a lot more competition situations, and they’ve been responding really well. It’s been the best start we’ve had.”

They face Mariner on Friday, Sept. 6, though it may not be the most anticipated game of the season.

“I think this year, the most anticipated game for Marysville will be the Berry Bowl,” said Lura. “We will try to take each game one game at a time, but any kid from Marysville knows exactly when it’s going to be.”

The Berry Bowl is the cross-town rivalry game between MG and Marysville-Pilchuck, this year set for Oct. 4. Right now, the Chargers are still figuring out where each player will land.

“We’ve only had four days of practice and we still have kids come out,” said Lura. “I think even more kids will probably come out this week, so we will see.”

The Chargers host Mariner at Quil Ceda Stadium on Friday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m.