MOSES LAKE — Royal and Warden football were among the six teams from the North Central Washington Region that kicked off their season with a jamboree at Lions Field in Moses Lake on Saturday afternoon.

Warden matched up against Ephrata and Okanogan in the early session on Saturday, with each team getting two 12-play sets to roll out its offense and defense. Royal took on Cascade and host Moses Lake in the afternoon session, getting a glimpse of some of the 4A competition they’ll face this spring.

Warden head coach Robert Arredondo said he didn’t really have any expectations of what he expected to see coming into the jamboree on Saturday, but after wrapping up that afternoon was pretty pleased with he saw.

“We’ve got a young team, tons of first-year players,” Arredondo said. “When you’ve got juniors and seniors that are first-year players, holy smokes. But we go out and we competed super well against Ephrata, and Okanogan is a powerhouse no matter what division they play in.”

Arredondo said he’d rate his team about an seven or an eight out of 10 after wrapping up last weekend. He said he couldn’t be happier with the way his team competed.

Arredondo said the list of things to work on was at about 200 items going into the jamboree, and is maybe down to about 50 things now.

But, he said, they still have a lot to do in terms of working on fundamentals.

Arredondo said he feels like they’ve got the personnel dialed in and just need to work on getting in more reps to fine tune the little things before kicking off the first game.

Warden receiver Dahani Trupp took a pass 30-plus yards for a touchdown on fourth down during the jamboree for the Cougars. Trupp said it was almost a euphoric feeling being back out on the field even if it is a little strange playing football at the end of February.

“I should be out wrestling, so it’s kind of a weird feeling,” Trupp said. “But I still feel good to be able to get out and things like this, just thankful.”

Trupp said the competition is a little bigger this year, matching Warden up against schools from across the gamut of classifications. He said he doesn’t know it will play out this year, but will just focus on going out and giving it his all every play.

Warden senior Brenton Cole said it’s a little sad not having a full season to cap off his career with the Cougars. But he said he likes the group they have this year and is excited to see what they can accomplish.

With just five games and no postseason, he said he wants to do everything he can to get the younger guys in the program set up for success down the road.

“I’m hoping to kind of guide our team into next season,” Cole said. “Hopefully, we’ll have a really good next season and look toward the future.”

Royal football, reigning 1A state champion, didn’t look like it’d missed a beat at times. Senior wideout and defensive back Cooper Christensen said it felt good getting back out and facing somebody besides their own guys.

“We had a long offseason and we had a lot of time to prepare,” Christensen said. “It feels good to get pads and tackle other guys; we’ve just been playing with each other for a little over a year now.”

Christensen said it was good to see the team have some momentum in its first time back out on the turf. He said they usually can have a slow start early in the season, but feels like they’re a little further along as things kick off.

He said commitment and consistency start in the weight room, building chemistry with everyone, and just increase from there.

Royal junior Derek Bergeson said it’s good having so many starters from the 2019 team back out on the field. He said leadership and helping to lead the younger guys is what helps build the program.

“It’s nice for me personally that I’m coming into this year with a little more varsity experience,” Bergeson said.

Royal head coach Wiley Allred said it was nice seeing the kids get to play again, particularly against someone else. Allred said it was nice to see the guys in action and get a better idea of where they’ll head moving forward.

“We’ve got a lot of guys, especially on the line of scrimmage, to get organized,” Allred said. “We’re trying to figure out who’s playing positions even still today, so it was good to get some film and evaluate.” Allred said the time some players spent playing catch in the offseason seemed to have paid off in keeping that chemistry intact He said they have a lot of different competition this year, including three games against 4A opponents, and is excited to meet the challenge.

When asked what was still left to work on heading into this weekend, Allred said simply “everything.”

“There’s plenty of stuff to work on,” Allred said. “I think the speed of the game is going to be an eye-opener for us. They’re just so fast, so hopefully we can catch up to that and committing to be our absolute best.”

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.