Greyden Paz, No. 12, returns in the role of quarterback for the 2026 Mountain Lion football squad.
Mountain Lions look for another state tourney slot
For the Liberty Bell High School football team, this fall won’t be about rebuilding or reloading, but more about maintaining the program’s energy and momentum — and “a bit of a cultural change in how we conduct our business,” according to head coach Jeff Lidey.
The Mountain Lions have a couple of new coaches joining Lidey’s team in Isaac Cordes and Mike Scarsella, and a net gain of 15 players over last year’s 31-member roster that reached the state playoff tournament for the fifth consecutive year.
This year sees some structural changes to the Central Washington 2B League. Gone, for at least two years, are Lake Roosevelt and Manson, which are joining Bridgeport as 2B schools opting down to the 1B eight-man classification after successfully petitioning the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) for the hardship opt-down.
With permanent designation of Oroville to the 1B class, the CW2B is now half what it was pre-COVID, with Brewster, Liberty Bell, Okanogan and Tonasket as the remaining conference members. The Raiders, Trojans and Mustangs/Fillies will remain as 2B schools in all other sports for the 2026-27 academic year.
The 45 prospective Mountain Lions signed up for football this year is the largest pre-season roster in recent memory. Among them are some notable names including Kimball Smith, who returns after a year spent away from the Methow Valley with family. Smith is anticipated to fill the hole in the offensive backfield left by graduated all-leaguer Remington Paz.
As an 11-seed into the state tournament last year, the Mountain Lions surprised the sixth-seeded Onalaska Loggers with a thrilling 40-38 win in the muck of a steady western Washington November rain. The following week’s big loss to Tri-Cities Prep exposed the mostly youthful and inexperienced line play on both sides of the ball.
Stronger on the lines
This year, with an entire off-season of growth, training and 2025 behind them, look for the offensive and defensive trenches to be much improved.
On offense, that means a more disciplined approach to the game plan, with better blocking up front protecting the pocket and providing for more of a deliberate, drop back passing game. There should also be an improved blocking scheme leading to bigger holes and a better opportunity for the running backs to get to the corner and up the field.
Greyden Paz returns for his senior year and second year at the helm of the offense as quarterback. He has a talented group of receivers and running backs at his disposal, and the front line is more experienced.
The offense, which for the years of 1B eight-man football and the following couple of years in 2B, has been mostly described as “backyard football,” will be a more pattern oriented, disciplined style of football.
“Being the third and final of the Paz brothers, I expect a lot out of Greyden this year,” said Lidey of his senior signal caller. “We’ve given him some room to grow over the past three years and I believe he will fulfill all of the expectations we have of him this season.”
Paz will be one of the captains as the leader of the offense, but Lidey isn’t saddling the senior with all of the responsibility that goes with the role.
“With this many kids in the program, we have some athletes with good leadership skills,” the coach said. “It’s not always the best athlete that serves the leadership role and so we are going to place that responsibility on a number of kids.”
The receiver positions will feature some faces that haven’t had a lot of notice or attention in the past. Senior Grady Thrasher steps in for his first try at varsity-level football and is expected to get some good looks at the tight end position. Junior Logan Hughes is healed up and back after sitting for a year with a significant leg injury. He had strong year on the diamond at first base for the Mountain Lions last spring and showed some speed on the base paths.
Senior Leatham Peterson was expected to compete for the early season starting position at tight end but for a freakish, first week accident at practice. The result was a fractured fibula and suspected injuries to the tibia and associated ligaments. That lower leg injury has, most likely, sidelined Peterson for his senior season of football.
The front lines on both offense and defense will feature some experience, as well as some new faces. New to the coaching staff is 2015 Liberty Bell grad Isaac Cordes, working with Jacob McMillan on the offense. Cordes will be coaching the line and brings with him experience in coaching at the top level of Oregon (6A) high schools and a bit of a philosophical change.
“With 45 players,” Lidey said, “we are going to be looking for our bigger kids to fill the role as prototypical linemen.”
Roster advantages
The larger roster will also come into play with the added advantage of shuttling players on and off the field, particularly with those front-line players. Having more players ready to go will give the Mountain Lions a chance to rest and hydrate players with frequency, a luxury they haven’t had in recent years.
In the past, the Mountain Lions have had to depend on undersized athletes to work the trenches. Lidey pointed to senior Aeden Plante as an example. “Aeden certainly played well where we put him last year, but you look at him and he’s undersized for what we need.”
Lidey described Plante as an athletic and talented player, better suited to a skill position in the offense. “I’ve promised him in the past some chances to touch the ball at running back,” the coach said. “We’re hoping to give him that chance this year.”
In the line, leadership will come in the form of junior Jaydenn Covarrubias, who is back as the leading candidate to start at the offensive center position. After missing the bulk of 2025 in the concussion protocol after a scary episode at Okanogan, Covarrubias returned to light duty near the end of the season and is ready to go full speed this year.
Another returner, sophomore Mackenzie Spellman, is a year older, bigger and stronger, and should hit the ground in pretty good shape after spending the summer in the pool swimming competitively with the Methow Valley Killer Whales.
Liam Kiefer and Sam Kaltenbach have defected over from the cross country program to try football for their senior year. Both are coming off successful trips to the state Mat Classic wrestling championships in February, Kiefer earning third place in the 2B 165-pound class. Having grown even a bit more since last year, Kiefer is expected to step into the front line and have an instant impact.
Lidey will play the role of defensive coordinator and leave the offense coordination entirely to veteran coach Jacob McMillan. Lidey looks for the same transition in the defense to a more disciplined approach to play, while managing to work in the words “crazy and exciting” as descriptors. He is introducing some stylistic changes that he says, without much specificity, will be noticeable.
While captains have yet to be named for the defensive side of the ball, expect to see Yolo Paz playing a major role in the unit. Lidey expects to use Yolo primarily on defense and sparingly, only where the situation requires his presence, on offense. While not tall in stature, Yolo is stout, quick footed, and can track down the speediest of receivers, and has standout vertical leaping and tackling ability. He is also a two-time state champion in wrestling from his sophomore and junior years.
Loaded schedule
Lidey is optimistic and excited for the 2026 season. Okanogan is, well, Okanogan. Varsity.Wa and MaxPreps.com both have the Bulldogs as favorites, not just to win the CW2B but be the team to beat in the state tournament. Both publications have Liberty Bell ranked in the second tier, around No. 13 and 14 in their early state 2B polling.
“I kind of like where they have us,” said Lidey said of the polls. “It’s good for us to fly a little under the radar. We don’t need to win a bunch of games, though.”
With the CW2B/EWAC crossover where the winners get a seed into the state championship, a No. 1 or No. 2 seed into that crossover will offer a good shot at winning their way in.
“The league championship comes down to that game with Okanogan on Oct. 23,” Lidey pointed out. “That will be a big one, for sure.”
That said, the Mountain Lion schedule is loaded with games against some highly placed competition in both the 2B and 1A classes.
Right out of the gate, at home a week from Friday on Sept. 4, the 1A Meridian Trojans from the Bellingham area travel over the North Cross to Mountain Lion Stadium, kickoff at 7 p.m. Like the Mountain Lions, the Trojans are ranked No. 13 in the MaxPreps Top 25 pre-season poll. They come out of the tough Northwest Conference where Nooksack Valley, Mount Baker and Lynden Christian all made the state tourney last year, the latter two losing out in the semi-finals.
Friday, Sept. 11, finds the Mountain Lions traveling to Royal City for a rematch of last year’s state 2B quarterfinal game with Tri Cities Prep. The Jaguars jumped out early and cruised to a sizable win to end the Mountain Lion season.
Starting quarterback and senior Greyden Paz is looking forward to that rematch. “That didn’t go to well for us last year,” he admitted. “It’s going to be fun, though. We’re doing things differently this year and I think we’ll be a little better prepared.”
The late season home game with Okanogan on Oct. 23 is another date he has circled on his calendar. “That one is going to be a fun game, too. We weren’t ready for them early last year, but we will be this year,” Paz said.
With only three regular season home games this year, Lidey is hoping for large and enthusiastic crowds.
“Really, the support of the community has been a key to our success these past few years,” the coach said of the previous five seasons. “I’m expecting they will come out again this year. At the end of the day, the support is what drives the kids to play well.”
On the Mountain Lions’ eight-game regular schedule this year, only three schools, Tonasket, Cascade and Brewster, do not fall in the pre-season top 15 ranking of either the 2B or 1A classifications. State-ranked 2B opponent Tri Cities Prep is No. 2, Okanogan is No. 3, and Colfax No. 9. 1A opponent Meridian is ranked No. 15 and Omak is ranked No. 11.
It’s an easy prediction for the statewide gurus to go with Okanogan as the CW2B champion again. It’s been a while since any other team has laid claim to that. But, they have to play the game and a lot can happen between Labor Day weekend and Halloween.
“I know one thing for sure,” said Lidey. “This is going to be an exciting team and fun to watch.”
As has been the practice at Liberty Bell since 2020, there is no charge for admission to regular season Mountain Lion events in 2026.
