WSL Athletics Week 5 Review and Week 6 Preview: Firebaugh Flies High, Tranquillity and Avenal suffer heartbreaking losses

With less than a week till the league opener, teams from across the WSL are getting in their last tuneup games in while some are getting much needed bye weeks as is the case for Avenal,Firebaugh, and Coalinga this week. last week Mendota and Dos Palos had the week off.

Week 5 started off on Thursday as Coalinga traveled to Fresno to take on The Justin Garza Guardians and while Coalinga fought all game long including getting into striking distance trailing by 7 at one point. The Guardians were just too much to handle for Coalinga and their two game win streak was snapped 39-24. Coalinga is on a bye week and will host Firebaugh to kick off WSL Play next Friday.

Friday Night Lights which was also Mexican Independence Day featured two matchups, Firebaugh hosting Immanuel in “Eagle Bowl Rd. 2” and Tranquillity made their long trek up to Tollhouse to take on The Chieftains of Sierra High. Firebaugh were looking to shake off their loss last week to Templeton as well as earning their 1st win of the season. First half was indeed a possession battle but Immanuel did have some miscues as well as missed opportunities and at one point Firebaugh capitalized and punched in on the scoreboard with a Rushing touchdown by Firebaugh’s Anthony Fernández but then towards the end of the first half Immanuel’s Will “The Thrill” Henderson ran it in to tie it at 7 leading into the half. 2nd half was a back and forth affair till early in the 4th Quarter when Anthony Fernández scored his 2nd touchdown of the night and the Eagles Defense held on including forcing two fumbles and stopping a last second rally by Immanuel to finally get the monkey off their backs winning it 14-7 which also marked the first win for first year Head Coach Jorge Saldana. The Eagles of Firebaugh enter their bye week (1-4) and will have a few days to get ready for the league opener on the road in Coalinga next week.

Sierra was coming into the match-up against the visiting Tigers of Tranquillity whereas the Tigers of Tranquillity were coming into Tollhouse in search of their first win. Well in the 2nd game that a league team went to OT (Mendota’s 2OT loss to McLane) The Tiger’s valiant efforts fell short as they would lose in one of their highest scoring games so far this year to Sierra 55-49 in Overtime. Tranquillity is scheduled to host Minarets this week.

Last but not least Avenal who played in a rare Saturday afternoon game on the road against The Huskies of Hanford West and it was a tight one throughout but Avenal only managed to score a field goal and held on as long as they could till Hanford West hit the dagger on a game winning touchdown pass and would fall to 3-2 after the 7-3 loss and enter the bye week at the the moment as lone leaders of the WSL.

Mendota had a bye week last week and will travel to Immanuel this week in their final preseason game before their clash with The Tranquillity Tigers as part of WSL Kickoff Weekend Sept. 30th And first rivalry game of the season as these two will take part in another edition of “The Old School Rivalry aka The League’s Most Hated Rivalry” but business first as they will take on an Immanuel Eagles team reeling after their loss last week to Firebaugh and will look to avoid back to back losses against the WSL while Mendota will look to enter WSL Kickoff Weekend with a 3 game win streak and an above .500 record.

Dos Palos will look to be re-energized after their bye week with some changes being made in their system which will hopefully lead them to a win before entering WSL Play as they and Tranquillity remain the only winless teams this season. But it won’t be easy as they will host a competitive Chowchilla squad that has always given the Broncos fits over the year. Will The Broncos finally be able to ride into the sunset victorious? Or Will Chowchilla continue to add onto their woes as well as their losing streak?

The Fresno State Bulldogs are on a much needed bye week after their prime time loss to USC last week which wasn’t the only loss as well as injuries to Standout players QB Jake Haener and Defensive player E. Williams. Go Dogs!

Quote of the Week: “It’s not the SIZE of the dog in the fight, but the size of the FIGHT in the dog”. -Archie Griffin, 2x Heisman Trophy Winner, Running Back, Ohio State and Cincinnati Bengals

-Kevin Arias-Romero Twitter @Kromero21

Editor-In-Chief, WSL Athletics

WSL Contributor, The Pagmeter