The 2025 season wasn’t the year that head coach Ted Iacenda envisioned for the College of the Canyons football program.
After the Cougars made a bowl game appearance in the 2024 season, COC finished last season with a 4-6 record, outside of the playoff picture for the first time since 2022, and just the second time since 2015.
But this season, the Cougars believe they can be successful, with their eyes on returning to the postseason.
“We’ve got a lot of talented young men out here working hard in the heat and battling every day, and yeah, we’re very optimistic about the season,” Iacenda said. “We hope to be one of the top programs in the country in terms of transferring kids to the four-year level. That’s always our goal, but secondly, we want to have a successful season.”
Iacenda, who’s entering his 14th season as the head coach of the Cougars, is confident in this year’s class of incoming Cougars.
Although Iacenda has some new athletes he’s excited to see on Saturdays, the veteran coach said this year’s returning group of players from last season is one of the best he’s seen in a while and he has high expectations for them — players who already have the “Cougar football culture” built into them.
“The bar is very high here,” Iacenda said. “Using last year as a parameter and explaining to the kids, these are the mistakes that are unacceptable. … Cougar football has a culture, we’re going to raise the bar, never lower the bar.”
At quarterback, Iacenda hasn’t decided on a starter for the Cougars this season but has enjoyed the position battle between sophomore Brayden Luedeker out of Mission, Texas, and freshman River Warren from Del City, Oklahoma.
While Iacenda is giving his quarterbacks the time to prove themselves throughout summer camp, he’s confident in the team’s offense to produce throughout the season with the versatility of whoever is the gunslinger.
“Our offensive coordinators are going to put them in a position to be successful. We got a downhill running attack, and we’re going to play action off that,” Iacenda said. “We’re going to still utilize our quarterbacks’ legs in the run game at times when it calls for it, but we’re going to look at the overall talent of our offense, and we’re going to try to put them in positions to be successful.”
In the receiving corps, Iacenda is keen to see this year’s group perform and believes it’s one of the most impactful aspects of his offense.
Julian Treadwell and Donovan Glover are two newcomers who will start as freshmen receivers with Valencia’s Elias Holloway joining this year’s group. The group will be led by sophomore Jared Mims, a returning slot receiver who has high hopes for this year’s offense.
“I feel like our receiving corps is very strong this year,” Mims said. “Everybody’s fast, everybody can catch. We all push each other to be better than we were the last few weeks.”
In the backfield, sophomore Jesse Lepore out of Sierra Canyon returns for his second year and will be joined by freshman Elias Willis, a Valencia High graduate.
As for the offensive line, Golden Valley’s Evan Nye is a prominent name in the young unit along with Shane Katz and Brett Hourigan from Hart High, as players to watch, according to Iacenda.
This season, Iacenda said his team may start five freshmen up front to begin the season. While Iacenda said it’s untraditional, he said he has full confidence in this year’s group.
“It’s exciting because of the youth and you have a chance to develop them, and you might have a chance to be good down the road as well,” Iacenda said. “I’m expecting this group to grow and be much different week 10 than they were game one.”
Defensively, Iacenda has a high standard for his guys and those in the line of scrimmage.
Sophomore Seifanga Langi leads the defensive line as a standout talent.
Langi, who will line up as a defensive end, spoke about taking a leadership role on this year’s team and goals for the rest of the defense.
“I was excited to come back and become a returner and be able to lead this group,” Langi said. “I’m expecting us to be really goodat defense this year. One of our biggest pillars is physicality. We’re going to rely on that a lot.”
In the linebacker corps, Iacenda has named returners such as sophomore linebacker Diego Olujich, a Canyon High graduate, along with newcomers Mathhew Maldonado, Rohan Green, and international player Max Matthes, who’s from Germany.
In the secondary, sophomore Kadin McCory will be a key player as a defensive back with returners Patrick Lima and Mylan Walker, both incoming sophomores.
Iacenda is looking for consistency on the defensive side of the ball with the returners leading the group and providing an example for the younger players to look up to.
“In terms of culture, old guys show young guys how to do it and how to do it the right way, and you know we have a high standard here,” Iacenda said. “Those are big parts of this program, and you know it really does help having some leadership on the defensive side that can help this whole team grow.”
As this year’s Cougars eye a bounce-back season, Iacenda is excited about what this year’s group can accomplish.
“We’re hoping to contend for a conference title, make our way into the playoffs and a bowl game,” Iacenda said. “We’re looking for a toughness for sure, especially with the younger football players and if they’re ready to play college football … we’re looking for that toughness and ways we can instill that toughness.”
The Cougars open the season on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Cougar Stadium against the Southwestern College Jaguars of Chula Vista.
