Samo secures win against Pacific Palisades, 33-15

Chase WohrleStaff WriterThe Vikings will enter their third game against Canyon (Anaheim) at Santa Monica College 2-0 after their victory against Pacific Palisades on Friday, 33-15.During the game, the Dolphins used the wishbone offense, one that is commonly seen in high school football. The fullback and tailback are offset either to the left or right opposed to directly behind the quarterback, allowing the inside runner to pitch outside in case of a defensive threat. Despite the other team's offensive tactics, Coach Travis Clark believes Samo played a good game.“We weren’t a discipline-sound team earlier in the game, people were just falling off of their assignments,” Clark said. “We settled down later on and I thought we did well.”Despite the fact that Samo's next opponent Canyon has had its last two seasons under .500 (the 2010-11 season ended at .455 and the 2009-10 season ended at .400), the Samo team does not feel that this is a time to let up on the intensity.“We’re going to watch a lot of film and study,” senior quarterback Christian Salem said. “We need to go out there and execute.”Clark agrees, emphasizing the importance of film study.“I know that they’re a big running team with some big guys upfront,” head coach Travis Clark said. “We‘re going to get this [game] tape tonight and I‘ll be up until three in the morning, studying and trying to figure out how to beat those guys.”Even further down the road, the Samo Vikings will face the Valencia Vikings, ranked 56th in the state. The team finished their 2010-11 season at .846 and their 2009-10 season at .923. However, Salem prefers to take one game at a time.“We’re just focused on Canyon right now,” he said. “We can’t even think about Valencia.”cwohrle@thesamohi.com