Warden whoops Granger

WARDEN - The Warden High School Cougars took their first league victory of the season against Granger High School 25-8 Friday night.

“We expected to move the ball and we moved it a little better than we had thought,” said head coach Robert Arredondo. “It was a good deal for the young kids.”

Starters for the Cougars were junior Angel Lino Segoviano, junior Anthony Contreras, freshman Ryan Jorgensen, freshman Rhett Jorgensen, junior Derek Duarte, senior Ruben Becerra, senior Israel Hernandez, junior Jair Perez-Chavez, junior Jesus Tamayo, junior Rafael Elizarraraz and freshman Jesus Mejia.

“I thought tonight our biggest opponent was ourselves,” said Arredondo.

Arredondo is working with a very young team in both terms of seniority and varsity experience. The varsity lineup includes only two seniors and one varsity returner.

The game started off with Granger winning the coin toss and electing to receive the kick first. Starting their first down on the 25-yard line, Granger struggled to make it past the 50 before punting on the fourth down.

Warden then took possession of the ball at the 15-yard line. After the first three downs only gained nine yards, Hernandez was able to rush to the 28-yard line for a first down. A false start by the Cougars lost them five yards but Segoviano nearly cleared the Granger Spartan line and was taken down at the 32-yard line.

“My position is to be in the right place at the right time, don’t be scared and just run,” said Segoviano.

On second down, Mejia created another first down for the Cougars when he pushed to the 42-yard line. After a couple more pushes, Segoviano brings home a first down when he crosses midfield to the Spartan’s 46-yard line. The Cougars don't give up, pushing until they are at the 2-yard line when the quarter is up.

“We were going to play hard no matter what,” said Hernandez.

The second quarter kicked off with Warden’s Becerra finishing what they started and scoring a touchdown in just the first six seconds. The extra kick was no good because of an offsides penalty by the Spartans. After Granger stopped a two-point conversion attempt, Warden led 6-0.

“The first play of the second (quarter), the first drive, we came out strong and we scored and had that momentum to keep going,” said Ruiz.

On the kickoff, Granger got its footing and returned the ball nearly to midfield. After a couple of pushes and encroaching by the Cougars, the Spartans crossed half field to the Cougar’s 43-yard line. Warden’s Tamayo returned the favor with a quarterback sack on the next play. Granger made little progress from there and opted to punt the ball on the fourth down.

Warden then struggled to move the ball, punting on the fourth down where Granger’s receiver was able to push to the Cougar’s 10-yard line before being stopped. Despite an immediate stop by Becerra on the next down, the Spartans then completed a six-yard pass for a touchdown. The Spartans completed a two-point conversion, putting them in the lead 8-6.

“I tell you what, ironically, when they scored,” said Arredondo on what turned the tides and flipped the switch for Warden’s renewed focus the rest of the game. “It kind of just lights a fire … they’ll learn that we can't wait for that to happen.”

Two drives later, Segoviano then pushed to the Spartan’s 30-yard line on the punt return. With pushes by sophomore Elijah Ruiz, Hernandez and Becerra, a touchdown materialized from a two-yard pass from Ruiz to Segoviano with only 13 seconds left in the half. The extra kick was good, putting the Cougars back in the lead 13-8.

The second half saw two more touchdowns by the Cougars with no end zone in sight for the Spartans. Warden took the game 25-8.

“These kids are learning fast so it's exciting,” Arredondo said.

Arredondo gave props to Mejia for his performance in the game and that this was his first game starting. Despite seeming nervous at first, Arredondo said Mejia found his groove.

“Football's a funny game, you got to get hit a few times to get comfortable and that’s what happened,” said Arredondo.

The Cougars are now 2-2 and will travel to Riverview Friday.

“We’re always going to play hard, we have a lot of grit and we’re never going to stop playing,” said Hernandez.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box Score

Warden - 0 13 12 0 - 25

Granger - 0 8 0 0 - 8

Warden highlights:

Sophomore Elijah Ruiz completed 13 of 21 pass attempts for a total of 112 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Junior Angel Lino Segoviano had nine rushes for 89 yards.

Senior Israel Hernandez had 5 receives for 70 yards.