Zillah attack too much for Warden

Second half miscues sink the Cougars offense

WARDEN — Zillah scored a touchdown in each quarter to overwhelm the Warden Cougars Friday night in Warden, 33-20.

With the loss Warden dropped to 0-2 in league play and 1-2 overall.

Warden took their only lead of the game in the second quarter when Joel Martinez picked up a Zillah fumble on the goal line and ran it back 100 yards for a touchdown and 7-6 Cougar lead.

The lead was short lived though as Brian Ross of Zillah ran back the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and clinched the lead for good. Zillah also made a successuful attempt at the two-point conversion to offset their failed attempt on the previous touchdown, for a 14-7 lead.

"We did great in the first half on defense," head coach Jerry Powell said.

Warden threatened to score again with less than a minute to go in the first half but on a first-and-goal situation penalties pushed them back to the 22-yard line where they threw an interception with seconds remaining in the half.

Warden trailed 14-7 at the end of the first half.

Zillah opened the second half on fire. They marched down the field quickly and scored on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Steven Collins to Chris Gasling.

Warden punted on their first possession of the second half but got the ball back in Zillah territory when the Cougars intercepted a Zillah pass and ran it 15 yards before getting pushed out of bounds.

It set up Warden's second scoring drive of the night, capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by Julian Lopez.

When Zillah got the ball back they proved to be too much for the Warden defense to cover. Following the same formula of their first scoring drive in the second half, Zillah ran the ball until they were 20 yards from the end zone; then Collins completed his second touchdown pass of the night, this time with receiver Chase Marquies for a commanding 27-13 lead.

The offense continued to deteriorate for Warden when at the start of the fourth quarter, they found themselves in a fourth down and nine situation.

In a shotgun formation the snap sailed far to the right of the quarterback and once he picked it up, he had no time to complete a throw or try and run for a first down and Warden turned the ball over on downs.

"We had some bad exchanges at the wrong time," Powell said.

The defense gave up a final touchdown to Zillah when running back Brian Ross made a 40 yard run into the end zone. It gave Zillah a 33-13 lead and almost no time for a Cougar comeback.

The Cougars managed a final scoring drive with under four minutes to go in the game. Nathan Alvarado scored the touchdown with a three yard run.

"They outplayed us and their quickness hurt us," Powell said.