Samo football loses a close fight

Under the bright lights of SMC’s football field on Friday, Sept. 14, Samo took on Newport Harbor in a tightly contested battle. Both teams put their all on the field, but a string of unlucky injuries and untimely plays from Newport was just too much to overcome for the Vikings, as they lost 28-21.The game started off as a defensive outing for both teams. With Samo kicking off, the teams held each other scoreless throughout the first quarter. It wasn’t until around 12 minutes left in the second quarter where points where put up on the scoreboard, in favor of Newport Harbor.Newport continued first half domination, scoring two more field goals and another touchdown before the half ended. Compared to the zero under Samo’s score, everyone on the team knew there had to be some changes to their gameplan. Coach Matt Kirk had this exact mindset going into the halftime break.“Yeah we had to make some huge adjustments, mainly because of the injuries we had...so we were able to go in at halftime and actually make those adjustments, and you saw the fruits of that.” said Coach Kirk immediately after the game.These fruits Coach Kirk mentioned were apparent from the buzzer to start the second half. A fire seemingly sparked underneath Samo, and they began to claw back. Led by quality throws from quarterback Anthony Arnou (‘20) and a rushing touchdown by Melvin Hicks (‘19), Samo cut the score down to 14-20, a six point deficit. The comeback culminated in an interception and touchdown from Free Safety and Wide Receiver Kobe White (‘19), giving the Vikings a 21-20 advantage with around three minutes left in the game. Aforementioned Quarterback Anthony Arnou was not surprised with the comeback, and had confidence in his team’s abilities from the beginning.“Well, when we were running back to the locker room, I felt that the scoreboard didn’t reflect the actual game. I was comfortable and I felt that we could move the ball with a few adjustments.” said Arnou, reciting his feelings just prior to the comeback.However, Newport Harbor scored a rushing touchdown with 16 seconds left, which put the game just out of reach for the Samo Vikings squad. Despite the loss, there are still positives that Samo can take from the game. Kayden Thomas (‘20) mentioned after the game about one of these positives.“I think my team did really great against that team. They put in all their effort and balled [lights] out.” said Thomas after the game. Unfortunately, he sustained one of the injuries that occured in the first half. However, it’s clear that Thomas and the rest of the team put in their best effort to make the game so competitive near the end.Samo looks to move on from this close game and win against their upcoming opponents. You can see them at the SMC Football Field next on Oct. 5th against Hawthorne High School.