Which Coronado Team Will Take The Field – It’s Anyone’s Guess

By Stephen Freyermuth
Sports Editor, Coronado Thunderbirds

The ups and downs that Coronado football fans have experienced this season make the lead up to the games very frantic and nerve racking as nobody knows what Coronado team we will see out there. We hope to see the T-Birds that played well in a three game span after losing to Americas, but we prepare for the Coronado that played last week against Montwood. Facing an Eastwood team that Coronado has dominated in the past, maybe the T-Birds can regain its momentum and beat the Troopers homecoming week Friday night at Thunderbird Stadium.

After allowing Montwood to gain an early lead Coronado showed the maturity that it had developed in the three previous games, leading up to this match-up of district foes. Coronado fought back to tie Montwood, and even before the first quarter ended Nick Annabi picked off Angel Garcia to sway momentum from the Montwood sideline Coronado’s way. However, Coronado could not take advantage of the opportunity giving the ball back to Montwood with great field position. Ten minutes later, and the score was 35-24 Montwood, and Coronado seemed out of it, as though they could not come back to win the game. The Rams ran away with the game, winning 56-31. Coronado cannot expect to win games against formidable opponents if it cannot fight back from behind.

However, there were bright spots. Coronado had two halfbacks rush for over 100 yards, which is rare for a team that struggles just to get one rusher over 100 yards. The stat that proved to be most detrimental for the T-Birds would be the turnover ratio 2:3 in favor of Montwood, showing once again that if Coronado cannot win the turnover battle it would have trouble winning games.

With three teams with two or three losses, Coronado yet to play two of them, the next two weeks are crucial for the T-Birds chances to make playoffs this season. Both Eastwood and El Dorado could sneak into the playoff picture with a win against Coronado in the next two weeks. So, homecoming week may add a little bit more motivation for the T-Birds that will have to win tonight at Thunderbird Stadium in order to have any hope of making playoffs.