Over the course of Coronado’s history, the Cougar sports teams have had both dominant wins and long losing streaks against west side rival, Palmer. Coronado’s success against the Terrors seem to be improving after the rocky 2013-2014 transition to 5A.

Coronado’s modern history of the rivalry of Palmer begins in 2012-2013, Coronado’s last year in 4A before moving up to 5A. Some Cougars proved to be formidable competition at the top of 4A, the untraditionally scored cross country teams placing first and second at state, but the normally scored team sports, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, softball, swimming, and tennis, fared less well against Palmer at the time. Overall, these sports won a solid half of their games against the Terrors. The Cougars won big in men’s swimming, by almost sixty points, and women’s tennis by a score of 6-1.

The next year, however, the Cougars experienced their worst season in recent years against Palmer. In the season of 2013-2014, the Cougars won only three of eight of their matchups. Although this could be contributed to a loss of momentum as the Cougars competed against tougher competition in 5A, or to especially good Palmer teams, but either way the Cougars suffered several crushing defeats that year. These included hockey’s 1-7 and 0-9 losses, men’s soccer’s 1-8 loss, and softball’s crushing 1-18 loss.

The next year was only slightly better. Although Coronado won double the games, they also competed in eight more games than the previous year, bringing their rivalry record against Palmer to winning just about 40 percent of the time.

The upward trend continued into the 2015-2016 season. The Cougars won 8/17 games that year, although the men’s teams only won 2/10. However, everything changed the next year. This past school year the Cougars allied 10 wins against Palmer and only five losses, a vast improvement from the midnight hour of the 2013-2014 season. The spring sports contributed the most wins to sway the rivalry to the Cougars’ side, not losing a single game within their season.

Looking into the future, the Cougars’ success against Palmer and their other 5A rivals may be hindered by the drop in enrollment numbers at Coronado, which has resulted in most teams competing in 4A. However, the Coronado’s team sports have seemed to only become more prosperous against the Terrors over the years. Going into spring sports, the Cougars will hope to produce another victorious season against Palmer. Good luck Cougars!