Some teams in the tough 4A Kingco league would have been quite satisfied to finish the 2011 football season with a 6-4 record, like Bothell High did last year.

The Cougars, however, are not one of them.

The league powerhouse, fielding one of its youngest teams since head coach Tom Bainter took over in 2000, suffered a tough Week 10 defeat last fall to Bethel, 24-22.

The team’s early exit left a sour taste in the mouths of the coaching staff and the players, most of whom return this year to start as upperclassmen under the bright Friday night lights with a pivotal year of experience under their belts.

“They’re working hard and they’re doing everything we’ve asked,” said Bainter on his team’s progress during the offseason and summer practices. “Of course, you’re never where you want to be at this point in the year, but we’re steadily working towards getting there.”

PROVEN RETURNERS

With the amount of seniors taking the field this year for the Cougars, the “growing pains” of last year, which led to early losses to Mount Si and Newport, should be a thing of the past.

Every single one of Bothell’s linemen is returning and had started at least four games last year, led by the physically imposing trio of Chase Madsen (6-foot-4, 270 pounds), Nick Omberllaro (6-foot-3, 270 pounds) and Dylan Lindsey (6-foot-3, 297 pounds).

The Cougars are loaded at other positions, including picking up of the state’s best running backs in Juanita transfer and BYU commit Darrin Laufasa in addition to returners Danny Wilson and Kizhan Proctor. On the receiving end, Jared Berry and Aaron Wilks will be looking to haul in some passes and find their way into the end zone.

Linebacker Camden McLeod and cornerback Reshon Watson, second team all-Kingco selections last year, will also be impact players for Bothell along with tight end Jeremy Ruef.

One position that the Cougars do not have experience at is quarterback, but Bainter is excited to see how sophomore sensation Ross Bowers develops.

“He’s done a great job, got a strong arm, he’s developing a great awareness of our offense and he’s improving daily on defense,” said the 13th-year coach. “He’ll be all right.”

Bainter, who takes his outstanding Bothell career coaching record of 110-30 (.785 winning percentage) into the 2012 football season, said that the keys to making a deep playoff run will be avoiding injury and getting better as the season progresses.

“We always talk about staying healthy, that’s going to be key,” he noted. “I think daily improvement is something that good teams that play at the end of the season still do… we’ll have to let Ross develop a bit, being a younger guy, and the whole team just developing and improving daily.”

INTO THE LION’S DEN

The Bothell High mascot may be the Cougar, but the early part of the team’s 2012 schedule is akin to being thrown into the lion’s den.

The Cougars’ Week 1 matchup this Friday is against the 4A defending champion Skyline Spartans, and slated for Sept. 7 is a matchup against the 3A Bellevue Wolverines, who have held the state championship trophy since 2008 and are currently ranked as the seventh-best football team in the nation by ESPN.

According to Bainter, the Skyline-Bothell matchup was pre-set, but Bellevue was originally scheduled to play Woodinville and Bothell’s Week 2 opponent was supposed to be Newport.

The Knights, however, have played Bothell three times in the last two seasons and were looking for a change of pace, while Woodinville opted out of playing Bellevue, creating a dream matchup for Bainter’s Cougars.

“Bellevue called us and said, ‘Do you want to play?’ and we said, ‘Sure,'” he recalled. “We have a real tough schedule, but it’s a good one. It’ll challenge us for sure and we’ll know after the first couple of weeks where we stand.”

While kids come and go as they advance through Bothell High’s football program, Bainter and his committed coaching staff are as driven as ever to make a push to return to the Tacoma Dome for the state semifinals, a venue that the Cougars have not experienced since 2009.

Those recent struggles have only fueled the fire to succeed throughout the program.

“We’re competitive as a staff… but I like to think this team is driven,” Bainter said. “They’ve certainly worked hard and we’ve talked about our (regular season) goals, how to achieve those goals, and reset new ones. There’s been talk about getting back to where we were in ’06 and ’07 and ’09. Maybe this team can do that.”