MALDEN, Mo. - On Oct. 8, 2021, the Malden Green Wave football team faced off against East Prairie High School. 

The Green Wave beat East Prairie 44-6. Malden High School has not won a game since this match up almost three years ago.

Treston Pulley hopes to end the drought this fall as Malden’s new head football coach. For him, it starts with proper summer training.

“Football doesn’t start in August,” Pulley said. “If you want to be on the team and if you want to win, it has to start now.”

Pulley has taken over Green Waves football program after spending three seasons at Sikeston. While at Sikeston, he led the Bulldogs to three Class 4 state tournament appearances. 

Now, Pulley starts from scratch. Malden has recorded an 0-18 record through the combination of the last two seasons. Last summer, the team only had 13 players come out for workouts. This year, Pulley and his new coaching staff have almost 45 individuals looking to join the team.

“It’s a numbers game,” Pulley said. “They’ve been showing up and we’ve been having decent enough numbers to get things done, but there’s always room for improvement. Always room to increase our depth and our quality of depth.”

While Pulley was added on as the new head coach, he brought with him his assistant coach, Michael Perry, from Sikeston to Malden as well. Along with Perry, Justin Peden and Dylan Earnheart step up from coaching the junior high team to help Pulley implement this new culture at Malden.

According to Peden, he has been working with some of these athletes since they were in middle school. He hopes their relationship and trust as well as Pulley’s determination can help bring success this fall.

“I know them and they know me,” Peden said. “We respect each other and I know their work ethic and I think they like working with me. They know my expectations and now they get to learn coach Pulley’s expectations.”

Peden is Malden’s offensive coordinator. He said he is excited, in this building stage, to see a lot of the players want to step up and learn different positions.

While in the summer period, Pulley and his staff have taken the time to teach the fundamentals of the sport.

“The kids want to learn and take coaching,” Peden said. “We have some receivers stepping up who will be really good. We have an offensive line with a lot of kids who want to work and get better. We have a lot of kids who want to get better, we just have to teach them how to do that.”

Along with fundamentals, Pulley is focused on making sure they are in shape for the season. 

The team has been doing a lot of conditioning and a lot of workouts in the weight room, building strength and endurance.

Stev’Ajay Jackson, a senior defensive end, said he thinks the work this summer will pay off and help the team end the drought.

“It’s been rough the last couple years because we haven’t won a game,” Jackson said. “I think we can turn it around now. We have been lifting and getting stronger so we can hit harder and make better tackles.”

Jackson is excited for the leadership Pulley brings. He also hopes he can be a team leader to help cultivate the new culture at Malden.

Pulley and his staff's only goal looking forward is to simply win.

“We are installing a lot of stuff and getting the bases of our offense and defense,” Pulley said. “There’s a rich culture in Malden. It was a no-brainer when the opportunity came. It’s a fresh start and we are ending the drought. We are just getting ourselves in a situation where we can be really competitive and pull some games off.”