Vikings’ efforts not enough for Valencia

At their home opener on Friday, Samo lost to the Valencia Vikings. The score was 63-28.Upon entering Santa Monica College’s Corsair Field, the stress on Samo was tangible in the air. With Valencia ranked 17th in the state, spectators were aware this would be a good game. The Samo banner displayed names of school legends such as Norm Lacy and Cody Williams. Valencia cheerleaders ran across the field with their flags only to receive a negative reaction from the crowd.Senior captains Brock Miller, Joel Ramos, Justyn Coker and Cody Williams came onto the field before the rest of the team and observed the coin toss; Samo received first. Just after the kickoff, starting quarterback Rhys Gervais, a sophomore, attempted to pass to senior Kris Comas when Valencia intercepted the ball inside of Samo’s 20-yard line and scored.After receiving the ball from the second kickoff, Samo began its second drive only to fumble a couple plays later, giving the ball back to Valencia. They scored later that drive. Thankfully, Samo answered before the end of the first quarter with a touchdown to senior Brandon Taylor, leaving the score at 14-7.Junior Kori Garcia initiated the second quarter attack on Valencia with a run that ended five yards from the goal line. In the next play, he finished the drive with an inside run to tie the game at 14-14. Shortly after Valencia obtained the ball, running back Steven Manfro completed a 20-yard run for a touchdown only to have it called back on a penalty.Valencia’s next touchdown, scored by receiver Matt Nyberg, was not called back and gave Valencia a seven point lead. Valencia scored again with a run by Manfro. In retaliation, Comas caught a pass and took it for a touchdown. The last touchdown of the quarter came from Manfro on an eight yard run, ending the quarter with Samo down 35-21.Before the third quarter began, the Valencia cheer squad prematurely broke their the teams banner, leading to a very unexciting entrance by their Vikings. The quarter remained scoreless except for a touchdown by Manfro at the last three minutes.Going into the final quarter of the game, Samo was down by three touchdowns at 42-21. Manfro had a one yard run to score within the beginning three minutes of the quarter. Manfro again scored on a pass inside of Samo’s 20-yard line. Valencia’s next drive resulted in a touchdown by wide receiver Tedric Thompson. This was the last of Valencia’s five unanswered touchdowns. In the last minute of the game, Comas scored his second touchdown with a quick pass leaving the score to 63-28.Despite the loss, Coach Travis Clark was satisfied with the team’s performance, and the performance of Gervais.“That kid put up 21 of those points, so I’m very happy with that,” Clark said. He went on to say, “We can run the ball against anybody. That defensive line was good, and we ran the ball on them.”The excessive turnovers in the game played a big role in Samo’s loss, according to Clark.“The cons obviously were the turnovers. That’s just difficult to overcome,” Clark said.Ramos agreed with Clark, saying “We had about seven turnovers, and you can’t win a game with seven turnovers.”Chase WohrleStaff Writer