Illustration by Eugene Felix

story by Anthony Zaragoza

The boy’s varsity soccer team (4-3) will be looking for an inspired performance against their arch-rivals, #3 ranked Coronado, when the two teams lock horns tonight. This year, the tables will be turned, and Franklin will have its first true home game against the T-Birds.

The Cougars will be trying to recover from their losing effort in their Wednesday night clash with the El Dorado Aztecs, which had to be postponed due to the weather. The team came out strong in the first half, when junior striker Alfredo Zendejas put the team ahead when he headed home the team’s first corner of the half. This proved to be the only positive for the team in this game, however. 

Missed chances and sloppy defending proved to be the teams undoing. Later in the first half, the team conceded a goal when El Dorado was able to capitalize on a corner kick. The second half was no better, a fact that the Aztecs were able to exploit. In the final minute of the game, miscommunication between the defenders and goalkeeper Chris Canales left an Aztec striker wide open to head home the winner and doom the team to its second consecutive loss.

Coronado comes into this game boasting a 5-2 record and is coming off of their bye week. Previous to their bye, Coronado was able to hold on to a 1-1 tie against El Dorado and eventually win 2-1 in a shoot-out. The game will be played tonight at 5:30 PM at home.