Samo Sports Blog

With the League season starting, I’ve decided to take a look at the most enticing matchup each week in the Bay, Ocean, Pioneer, and Western league. Week 1 of League Bay Redondo @ Peninsula For me, an always enticing matchup is Redondo vs Peninsula. Both have been worse than their rivals (Palos Verdes and Mira Costa Respectively) in the Bay league for years, but compared to each other, it’s a competitive affair. Last year Redondo beat Peninsula at the Hill, a crushing blow to the Panthers in their first night game in school history. Peninsula will look to avenge their loss at Redondo’s Sea Hawk Bowl this season, and with Redondo’s enormous student section, it is sure to be in for an exciting and captivating matchup. Peninsula will also be playing for playoff viability, and to keep their three game win streak intact. Ocean Hawthorne @ Morningside Neither of these squads have had good seasons so far. Hawthorne is 1-4 and Morningside have forfeited twice. For both teams, it’s really about ...

Despite consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the 2007 season, SAMOHI hopes to return to their winning ways. Going into her eighteenth season as head coach of the Vikings is former Olympic volleyball player, coach Liane Sato. Despite the overall poor performance last year, the girls showed flashes of potential that would make one hope for a return to pre-covid form this year. In 2021, the Vikings were abysmal, with a 2-14 (1-9 in league) record, although in the 21-22 season the girl attained a 11-13 (4-6 in league) season making the playoffs.  This near ten win improvement shows the girls are adapting to their tough bay league opponents. Since the 04-05 season, Coach Sato has led her team to 11 out 18 winning seasons, with the longest streak being from 2014-2015 to 2019-2020. She is looking to bring her girls their first winning season this year, since joining the bay league. To recapture their once great records, coach Sato will be relying on a key cast of seniors. L...

Samo drove up the PCH on friday night with high expectations, as they matched up with the Red Vikings of Hueneme. As the boys drove up to Oxnard, they we're looking to finish non-league with a perfect 5-0 record for the first time since 2008. Hueneme on the other hand we're looking for their first win of the season, as the Red Vikings had scheduled tough competition and flunked through their games, going winless through four contests.  Hueneme received the ball to start the game, and started with a bang, obtaining a fifty yard return. Despite this though, the Viking defense would recover and after a couple penalties forcing Hueneme back, the Red Vikings we're put in a 4th and 20 outside of field goal range. Hueneme threw it deep down the field where the ball was intercepted by Charles Cravings (Class of 2025 SS/WR) . In Samo's first drive, the Vikings could not get out of their tough starting position at the five obtaining a string of penalties forcing them to punt. Hue...

  The league complexion of the Westside and South Bay public schools is relentlessly changing. Looking back even 5 years ago, the three leagues made up of these aforementioned schools were completely different. The Bay League is the oldest of the three leagues, having a history lasting longer than 100 years! As a pillar of sports in the area, the Bay has had a fair share of core members as Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach), Redondo Union, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Palos Verdes have all been members of the league for more than twenty years. The league has had a rotating group of South Bay and Westside Schools in it for years, and right now Santa Monica and Culver City round out the league. For the Pioneer, all schools in the Torrance school district (North, South, West, and Torrance) are in the league alongside Lawndale and El Segundo. In the Ocean league, Inglewood unified schools Morningside and Inglewood are in the league, alongside them two of the three Centinela Valley Unified sch...

  The Vikings drove into Sylmar last friday expecting to decimate the lowly Spartans. After a two hour trek up the 405, the boys showed up in the Valley ready to rock.  To start the game, Sylmar had a huge kickoff return to midfield. However after obtaining this return, the Spartans weren’t able to do anything. Samo’s defense forced Sylmar into a field goal attempt. After a botched snap, Sylmar kicker Pablo Leon (Class of 2024 K/P) picked up the ball and made an athletic play punting the ball inside the five. Despite pinning Samo deep, the Vikings offense led by Wyatt Brown (Class of 2026 QB) was unfazed in spite of some penalties obtained by the offensive line. In the second, the Vikings capped off their long drive with a Caden McCallum (Class of 2024 RB/LB) scamper into the endzone, putting them up 7-0. On the next Sylmar drive, the Vikings forced a three and out, getting the ball back around midfield. Once in the red zone, Brown looked for David Solis-Valdovinos (Class ...