Malden's Gatorade game draws community support

Malden's defense, yellow helmets, makes a tackle to prevent a run from the Green Wave offense at the Green and White Gatorade game.

Photo by Kaelin Triggs, Delta Dunklin Democrat

MALDEN, Mo. - The Malden Green Wave football team hosted a green and white Gatorade game on Saturday, Aug. 17.

This green and white competition allowed Malden players to run through their newly established defense and offensive plays under new head coach Treston Pulley. 

Over 100 fans came out to support the Green Wave on their first public showing of the season.

“We were able to get a Friday night feeling on a Saturday,” Pulley said. “We wanted to get the fans excited, show them we’ve been working. We wanted to show them a glimpse of what we could potentially be and we got some Gatorade out of it.”

Admission for this Saturday night match was free, except fans were encouraged to bring gatorade for the team which they will use to refuel throughout the season.

For Pulley, community support has been everything. Having fans provide for the team and come out and watch the green and white scrimmage shows how much this town cares about football.

“Ever since I got here, there's been positive energy from the Malden community,” Pulley said. “I like what I've seen so we’ll just keep working and apply pressure to be better.”

One fan enjoyed what she saw in the scrimmage.

Over 100 fans provide Gatorade for the Malden Green Wave football team.

Photo by Kaelin Triggs, Delta Dunklin Democrat

Despite the recent history of Malden football, she said she had faith in the future of this program.

“The past few years have been hard to watch,” She said. “I think that’s all going to change because of [Pulley].”

The scrimmage itself started off in favor of Malden’s defense, as they showed their ability to apply pressure on the quarterback and interrupt plays.

However, the second half of the scrimmage became an athletic showing offensively. Both sides of the balls were able to show their strengths and weaknesses on Saturday night. This allows Pulley and his staff to fine tune some aspects of the Green Wave game prior to their first match on Aug. 30.

Overall, Pulley was pleased with how hard his team worked to get to this point.

“I loved the effort,” Pulley said. “I thought they played hard. We gotta get some of these younger players a little bit better on that aspect, but when speaking on offense and defense, I thought they played with a lot of effort. It was nice and I am pleased with them.”

Pulley said he wants to get his team ready to play in high intensity scenarios. He hopes to prepare his players to switch from offensive to special teams or running six plays at a time and other parts of the games which require a lot of mental toughness.

According to Pulley, the only way to learn this is more time on the field.

Malden will have a jamboree at Chaffe on Friday, Aug. 23. The jamboree will begin at 6 p.m. Along with Malden and Chaffe, Doniphan and Charleston will also be competing. 

The first official home game for Malden is Aug. 30 against Dexter at 7 p.m.