BOYNTON BEACH – In some ways, the 2021 season was a tale of two halves for the Somerset Academy Canyons football team.

After starting the season 0-4, head coach Alex Gonzalez and the Cougars were able to string some wins together.

Gonzalez got his first win on October 8 – a 20-10 victory over Boca Raton Christian – and finished the season with a three-game winning streak, including a 55-0 win over Miami-Palm Glades Prep.

For Gonzalez, winning those games was critical.

“It was huge for us,” Gonzalez said. “I never lost sight of what we’re going to finish off. Neither did the team. But you can always have that feeling that if you don’t get one … under our belts, it may be a long season and that can really defeat a team.”

Fast forward some time and the Cougars are back, looking to build off the promising end of last season.

While Gonzalez feels the Cougars have the talent – and they certainly do across the field – building off last season’s success will be a matter of just putting all the pieces together.

“For us, it’s just stringing it together,” Gonzalez said. “We have a lot of experience coming back from last year that were young, which I think puts us in a good position to really exploit that as a team … We have a lot of very talented kids on both sides of the ball. We just gotta put them together.”

The good news for Gonzalez and company is that the Cougars return so much talent who, while they may still be young, come back with valuable experience.

Take Waden Charles as an example.

The sophomore wide receiver made a major impact for the Cougars on both sides as a freshman, finishing with eight total touchdowns and five interceptions.

Now, after a meaningful summer, Charles will be expected to continue making a major impact.

Despite being so young, Charles has quickly become one of the leaders on this team.

“His leadership for being a class of 2025 kid and a sophomore,” Gonzalez said. “Last year, he got elected as a captain, and this year, he’s probably going to be another captain amongst his teammates. He has put in the work all summer in the weight room, leading the guys. It’s going to be a very special year for him.”

Charles headlines an offense that returns some production – including running back David Duong – but will have a new face under center.

Last season’s starting quarterback, Benson Barnes, has graduated. Taking his place this season is Quincy Rowe, a transfer from West Boca Raton.

“He’s going to bring a lot to our offense in the run game and in the pass game,” Gonzalez said of Rowe. “We can do a little more things in the pass game now than we were able to do last year. I think that that’s huge for us because we got the skill guys on the outside and I think that’s going to help us elevate that.”

Rowe is among the seniors on this team who will likely be looked at to help provide leadership to a group of players that, overall, is incredibly young in the scope of Palm Beach County.

“Our senior group has been very good in taking the opportunity and showing them that not many programs out there are doing what we’re doing in allowing these [young] players to play,” Gonzalez explained.

“And we have the talent,” he continued. “I mean, a lot of 25’s and 24’s played last year, and they’re coming into this year better than ever because of the experience they got last year. They’re bought in, our staff has been doing very good.”

With those players being bought in, the goal for Somerset Canyons might be simple – finding a way to take the leap from barely missing the playoffs to making it.

“We gotta win the games that count the most,” Gonzalez said about what it would take to make the playoffs. “We got to win the most important games and for us, it’s just winning every week, one at a time.”