Difference of two kicks, Warden falls short

WARDEN - A kick here or there in their favor and the Warden

Cougars could be entering league play this week with a 2-2

record.

Instead, the difference of a field goal missed and one made

against was the difference in Warden's 20-17 home loss to Brewster

on Friday night.

WARDEN - A kick here or there in their favor and the Warden Cougars could be entering league play this week with a 2-2 record.

Instead, the difference of a field goal missed and one made against was the difference in Warden's 20-17 home loss to Brewster on Friday night.

Warden (1-3) lost what Cougars head coach Erik Skone called, a ‘hard hitting football game.'

The difference in the game was a made 25-yard field goal by Brewster with six seconds left while Warden's missed a chance just a little over two minutes earlier.

"That was a huge momentum swinger," Skone said. "But without a doubt we have improved every week. Our kids are learning the fundamentals, are becoming less hesitant in the process, and are continuing to make each other around them better."

Warden was led by quarterback Trent Bates who finished 15-for-26 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Bates also had 31 yards rushing on nine carries.

Adam Hansen had a strong all-around game for the Cougars, as the sophomore ran the ball four times for 11 yards, caught five passes for 105 yards and defensively made 14 tackles.

"Hansen played a great game on both sides of the ball," Skone said. "He needs to become a little more of a vocal leader as his game definitely speaks for itself. He's a great kid that always seems to pick up kids that are having problems."

Brewster ran the ball 41 times for 216 yards compared to Warden's 20 attempts for only 80 yards.

"We have to be able to run the ball with some efficiency and we are still working on the running game since when we get it working look out," Skone said. "On defense we played some hard smashmouth football, which made it a lot of fun."

Still despite the improvement in the loss, Skone knows his team must continue to work for more with five regular season games left.

"One of our goals is to make the playoffs and the previous games provided us a warmup for league and put us in some difficult postilions which we have responded to very well," Skone said. "We are taking care of the ball a lot better and just need to eliminate our mistakes while still playing with reckless abandon. For high school football that was the way the game was meant to be played and if you were a fan or a player anyone would have enjoyed that game. Don't count us out yet because for the Warden Cougars the best football has yet to be played."