Cougars plan to reload for this season

WARDEN — The Warden Cougars are deep in their preparations for their second season under Head Coach Brent Cox. As the early season practices continue, both players and coaches alike are looking forward to what they can accomplish this season. 

“I’m just really excited to get back out there,” said Cox. “We had a good spring football training, got a lot of our skilled players back.” 

Last season the Cougars finished with a 6-4 record in the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference and made it to the second round of postseason play before being eliminated.  

Warden will have a large group of freshmen and sophomores joining the roster this fall but is going to be led by a group of six seniors. Some of the key returners for the roster include senior Kam Jensen at quarterback and junior Jaxsen Erickson and senior Danny Martinez as the two running backs. 

“They’ve earned their keep,” said Cox. “They’re a hard working group. We lost a couple big guys that were on the line last year, so these guys are going to have to step up, but they’re a solid group though. We should get some good leaders out of them.” 

Jensen said one of his goals as a senior player is to strengthen the camaraderie between each of the Cougars. With a large group of freshmen coming onto the team, he said it’s important to get to know and spend time with them. 

“I want to be the guy they can look up to,” said Jensen. “I’ve had some great seniors in the past; they’ve done great jobs.” 

Much like last year, the main goal for the Cougars is to strive for consistent improvement throughout the season. Some of the aspects that Warden is already focusing on are creating a stronger defense and working to move the ball better offensively. 

Creating strong ball movement through running plays is something Cox said he is confident in with Erickson and Martinez returning for their positions.  

The coach said his players have been putting in the work this offseason as the guys have been hitting the gym and getting themselves well-conditioned.  

“I want to be a well-conditioned team this year,” said Cox. “I really want to emphasize that and with a young team, these older guys are going to have to play both sides of the ball and play hard. You’re going to have to be a conditioned team in order to make that happen.” 

As Warden inches closer to the start of the football season, Cox said he is feeling very confident in the relationship that he and his coaching staff have built with the players over the past year.  With these strong bonds built among each member of the team, Cox is confident in the Cougars’ ability to reach that level of steady improvement. 

“I just want to see these guys compete,” said the coach. “We lost some games last year that I thought we should have been more into them and so we’ve got to be able to bounce back better... and that’s not all on the kids, that’s on us coaches too, so we’ve got to be better coaches and we’ve got to get these kids’ mindsets better so they can recover from a bad play or a bad call.” 

Both coaches and players alike are excited to see what they can accomplish this season as they head into a new season on the gridiron. For Cox he still is striving on his goal from last year to build a football culture in Warden. 

“It’s football time,” said Cox. “I want Warden to be excited for this, so we’ve got to get this team pointed in the right direction.” 

Jensen said he is excited for the opportunity he has this season to compete as a senior leader. 

“I’m definitely looking forward to leading my team and being that captain this year,” he said. 

The Cougars start their season at home Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. 

    Warden linemen push against a five-man sled at an early season practice this summer.
  

    Eli Reyes works to complete a catch while his defending teammate Emmett Hymus works to stop the play in early season practice.
  

    Ryan Landeros practices a blocking drill with Angel Madrigal during a Warden preseason training in the late summer.
  

    Cougars Head Coach Brent Cox stands at the center of his team as he explains the next drill for practice.