WARDEN — The Warden Cougars football team concluded their season with a 6-4 record making it all the way into the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference Central Washington B 2B football crossover before being eliminated from postseason play. While being just short of state, Cougars Head Coach Brent Cox said this was overall a very successful season. 

“I was impressed, I thought our kids did really well,” said Cox. “I just wanted to do better than we did in recent years, and we did exactly that. We learned a lot as a coaching staff and how these kids work together.” 

Their final game of the season was against the number one seeded Okanagan in the 2B crossover where they would fall 0-50. Despite the loss, he said the team still put out a strong effort against a tough defending state championship team. 

Cox said this was a great year for the staff to get to know the players on the roster and help everyone get on the same page for the seasons ahead. The team is graduating eight seniors off their roster, but will be returning a group of skilled players to the team next season. 

The Cougars showed great growth in their mental strength as the season progressed with the players getting down on themselves early on in the season, but as the season progressed, earned multiple comeback victories in the final quarters of the game, he said.  

“After seeing that and being able to coach these kids up and getting their mental toughness back up and having them fight through some of that adversity, it really showed a lot of what type of kids we have,” said Cox. 

He said the big lesson as the new head coach this season was learning how to keep the athletes disciplined and being accountable for themselves. Throughout the season he made sure to emphasize how important it is for the players to keep up their grades if they wanted to play on the field. 

Another thing that was pushed for the players this season was spending more time in the weight room to get physically stronger to handle the physical pressure of playing football and push the players to become a bigger, stronger and more competitive team, said Cox. 

“They were learning real quick that this coaching staff wasn’t going to lower the standard to make sure we had players on the field,” he said.  

All of the efforts from the Cougars players and the coaching staff were made with the goal of building up the football culture in Warden. He said the team made great strides in that effort, both in their discipline side and in the school culture side of playing. 

In their last home game of the season, for the Cougars’ senior night, their opponent had forfeited the match by opting not to travel, giving Warden an extra win on the season. To still have a game to celebrate the seniors, Cox said the team split into white vs blue. 

“It was kind of a fun game for them and to honor our seniors and give them a sendoff,” he said.  

Cox said this year was a step in the right direction with the cohesion of the coaching staff working together and the drive shown from the players making him very confident in the future of the football program in Warden. 

“That was my goal was to make sure we’re going to get a positive outcome and that we are building for the future,” he said. “I’m really happy with the athletes that finished the season, and they know what’s expected, so we’ll bring that in next year.” 

    Senior running back Tavo Canales from the Cougars rushes past a defender in a game at the start of the season.
  

    Cougars running back Danny Martinez (21) rushes with the ball with senior tight end Hunter Golladay staying close behind his teammate to ensure Warden gains as much yardage as possible.