Samo football loses to Cypress in second preseason game

On Friday, Sept 1, Samo lost their second home game, against Cypress High School, with a score of 48-8. Players from both teams came onto the field with high energy and confidence, eager to start the game. Cypress had the kick off, and after much effort from Samo, Cypress scored their first touchdown 11 minutes into the first quarter. “I think our hopes for this game were high,” athletic director Evan Fujinaga said. “We had a disappointing loss last time, we learned from it and came out to win it this time.” The second quarter began with an injury from Cypress’s lineup and more opportunity for Samo. After multiple touchdown attempts and multiple flags pulled by the referees, Cypress scored their second touchdown of the game. “There were a lot of missed opportunities,” head coach Ramsey Lambert said. “We didn’t tackle on defense as well as we could’ve and we couldn’t fix our mistakes offensively, either.”With three minutes left in the third quarter, lack of energy was creeping up on both teams. But once again, Cypress worked past Samo’s defense and scored their third touchdown of the game, pushing the score to 21-0, just in time for the buzzer for half time, as both teams walked back to the locker rooms to reflect.“Defensively, we dropped a lot of balls and didn’t tackle that well,” Lambert said. “We made a couple mistakes based on calls that were to our disadvantage, and our focus level was decreasing as Cypress kept getting past us.”Coming back from halftime, both teams were motivated and ready to finish strong. Samo did better offensively, keeping Cypress away from the end zone in multiple attempts to score. Unfortunately, in the last two minutes of the third half, Cypress scored their fourth touchdown that extended their lead 28-0. “Our goal is always to compete at every level, move the ball, be confident and be mad about last week’s loss and focus on bringing in wins for our school.” Lambert said. The fourth quarter was looking bleak for Samo as Cypress scored two more touchdowns. But then, Samo’s Donovan Parker (’19) ran all the way with the ball from the 20 yard line into the end zone, scoring Samo’s first touchdown of the game. “I mean, it was a little late,” Jaidin Flanagan (’20) said. “But it had a good feeling to it to see that even though we were losing, we fought for that one touchdown. Just goes to show, we never give up.” After a hard game, the score was 48-8, leaving Samo with an undeserving loss. “We’re going to take a lot back from this game. Defense is something we need to work on a lot, and I’m sure we’ll be ready by next week [for Compton High School], Samo never gives up.” Flanagan said.