MATTAWA - It's been a forgettable season for the Warden Cougars so far.

After uneven play from the offense and defense and a devastating injury to starting quarterback Osvaldo Alba, the Cougars remain winless.

Warden's latest loss came at the hands of the Wahluke Warriors in Mattawa last Friday 27-21, dropping their record to 0-3 in the South Central Athletic Conference East division and 0-5 overall.

"We started slow once again and I don't know what's caused our slow starts," head coach Eric Skone said. "When we get started we're not really getting started good to begin with."

Skone explained that the Cougars' first punt of the game netted negative yards which contributed to an early 14 point deficit and left his players stunned.

"To start with, it kind of put us in shock," he said. "This isn't us, what's going on?"

Warden was able to cut the Warrior lead in half and went into intermission trailing 14-7. Both teams traded touchdowns to open the second half and the Cougars trailed 21-14 before tying the game at 21-21 with about 10 minutes remaining in the game.

A breakdown in special teams left Wahluke with a short field and the Warriors were able to take the lead 27-21 following a missed extra point.

Warden took over at the 35 yard line with eight minutes left with a chance to win the game with a touchdown and a made extra point.

"We knew that we had to go in the middle and run the ball and that's what we did," Skone said. "And we did an excellent job."

The Cougars were able to advance the ball to the six yard line and faced a fourth down and two with three minutes remaining on the game clock, but the Wahluke defense stiffened and caused a turnover on downs.

"We didn't run inside the tackle box like we should've," Skone said. "We do that we get a first down, if not the touchdown."

Warden returns home this week to face the second place Connell Eagles with the kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.