WARDEN — After finishing 4-6 a season ago, the Warden Cougars have begun the 2024 season with a 3-0 mark with wins over Medical Lake, Mossyrock and — most recently — Tonasket. 

“The boys’ potential this season, I cannot exaggerate it enough — it is so high,” Head Coach Dallyn McLean said. “There are so many players on that team with really, really high potential, and it’s (about) getting them to calm down (and think) ‘What is your job, what is your responsibility?’ and put the effort in.” 

On Saturday against Tonasket the Cougars found themselves down 15-8 at halftime, later being down 21-8 after the Tigers scored on their opening possession of the second half. 

“Our body language dropped in the first half, and I think that gave Tonasket a lot of confidence,” McLean said. “If we don’t drop our body language when things are going our way — get punched in the face and step back up and get back into the fight — that's when Warden plays the best football.” 

It echoes a similar sentiment that senior Malakai Valdez shared ahead of the 2024 season in a past interview with the Columbia Basin Herald. 

“We dropped our heads a lot when we saw the opponents put numbers on the scoreboard,” Valdez said Aug. 22, speaking about the 2023 season. “We dropped our heads and kind of gave up when we had a lot more work to do.” 

Instead of keeping their heads down and accepting the loss, the Cougars battled back for a narrow 22-21 road victory over the Tigers on Saturday.  

“We came back in the second half because the boys wanted it; they didn’t back up like they’ve done in the past,” McLean said.

Warden opened its season on the road against 1A Medical Lake on Sept. 6, taking a first-half lead with a touchdown catch by senior Michael Gonzalez. The Cougar offense gave up a touchdown on an interception on a screen pass, though the Cardinals missed the extra points — thanks to a shutout by the Cougar defense, Warden held on for a 7-6 win. 

“Our defense really stepped up to the physicality of the first game and met them up front and managed to get them to not score any touchdowns on offense,” McLean said. “We made it a lot harder on ourselves than it needed to be, but at the end of the day you walk away with the positives and improve the negatives.” 

The second Cougar win of the season came against Mossyrock on Sept. 14, a 33-16 win where the Cougar offense racked up 352 yards and scored five touchdowns — two by Gonzalez and one by each of sophomore Kam Jensen, junior Hunter Golladay and junior Rhett Jorgensen. 

“I think the boys were ready for the challenge and stepped up when they came,” McLean said. “They did their job and did their responsibilities.” 

Through three games, senior Michael Gonzalez has hauled in five touchdown catches. 

“He is really good at catching the ball, and once he’s got the ball in his hands, he’s dangerous,” McLean said. “His ball-carrying ability is dangerous, his yards after the catch is the highest on the team right now. We really try to put the ball in his hands and let him make magic happen once he’s caught the ball.” 

Along with Gonzalez, McLean noted fellow standouts in Valdez, senior TJ Visker, sophomore Daniel Martinez, junior Hunter Golladay, senior Elijah Ruiz and senior Jonathan Baerholm as standouts through the first three games. 

The Cougars begin league play Friday on the road against Columbia (Burbank). 

“I don’t want to take anything from (anyone), but all-around it’s a really strong team this year,” McLean said. “Our attitude is different going into these league games.” 

    Warden senior Elijah Ruiz (12) carries the ball during a game against Mossyrock on Sept. 14. Head Coach Dallyn McLean noted Ruiz as one of the team’s standouts through the early weeks of the season.