Samo Loses to Mater Dei 37-0

On Friday, Sept. 20, Samo football lost its first home game against Mater Dei with a score of 37 - 0.

At the start of the game, Mater Dei was ranked third in California and eleventh in the nation. Samo was able to hold Mater Dei to only seven points in the first quarter and forced them to punt for only the second time this season. Samo was also the first team to sack Mater Dei all season. However, Samo couldn't get its offense going all game.

“The defense was stellar,” football coach Travis Clark said. “[Mater Dei’s] defensive line, linebackers and secondary are pretty special. When you have a front seven like them you don’t really have to do much in the secondary. But I’m really proud of my boys and I felt like they came out and fought hard.”

Samo turned the football over numerous times throughout the game, which put the team in a hole early on.

“We made too many mistakes and we need to clean that up, Clark said.” “[Mater Dei] is the kind of program that exploits all your flaws. We’re just going to learn from this game and clean things up for next week.”

Throughout the game, Clark reminded the team about its body language. He talked to the leaders about setting an example for the rest of the team.

“I just didn’t want them to quit and I didn't care what the score was, Clark said.” "I told them, make sure your body language is positive, keep your teammates encouraged regardless of what happens. Forget about the last play and just keep playing.”

Clark said that he was proud of his team regardless of the score.

“I thought [the team] played like champs, looked like champs and eventually we will become champs,” Clark said. “I couldn’t be prouder of my team.”