Football pulls through a win with West Torrance

As Viking Varsity football players ran out under the giant blowup of mascot Victor the Viking at the start of the game, cheers erupted from the filled bleachers. Samo students and families watched as the Samo Vikings barely made it through the game against West Torrance High School on Friday, Sept. 6. Samo emerged victorious with a score of 34-29 after struggling in the second half. During the first half, the Vikings completely dominated the field. With a touchdown and a field goal within the first 5 minutes of the game, both offense and defense kept up their energy and teamwork throughout the entire first half of the game. During the second quarter, wide receiver Jalen Cobb (’20) lunged for the ball and legendarily caught it one-handed, running for a touchdown.  Samo’s offense started to falter in its plays when going into the second half and their defense became particularly weak, allowing West Torrance to slowly close the gap on Samo’s lead. It was almost as if the two teams switched jerseys at half time; Samo was losing spirit and energy. Soon, it came down to a single touchdown by West Torrance to lose the game. Yet, nearing the end of the third quarter and into the fourth, Samo started to regain that spark after receiving directions from Coach Kirk.  Defense started to pick up and made some significant interceptions in the last quarter, allowing Samo to push through and end the game at 34-29.   “We just came out a little flatter in the second half defensively, allowing them to score on us on their first drive, and then we had some mistakes on special teams that allowed them to get even closer in the game. Luckily, we were able to make some defensive plays that kind of killed their momentum and brought the momentum back our way.” said Kirk.  The next home game will be against Godinez Fundamental High School from Santa Ana on the Samo field on Sept 27th at 7 p.m.