Samo Sports Blog

  The exciting, lengthy, and awesome season was due to come to an end. Win or lose, Santa Monica High School entered the CIF Southern Section Division 3 Championship Game and their season would end no matter what. Santa Monica entered the playoffs on a roll, winning their last 10 of 11 and going undefeated in league. After a thrilling sudden-death overtime win against Chaminade in the final game of the regular season, they were rolling. Entering the bracket as a #1 seed, they received a bye during the first round. They easily walked through Woodrow Wilson in the 2nd round (score of  17-3) and Dos Pueblos in the 3rd(17-8). After a coin flip, the Vikings were able to secure their 3rd home game in 3 games against King in the semifinals. After a competitive, low-scoring, defensive battle, Santa Monica was down 5-4 in the last minute of the game. They were able to retain possession of the ball and get it to star sophomore Ozgood Hawkins, who placed the ball in the back of the net, ...

  Coming into the 2023 season, the Vikings lacrosse team had many questions to be answered. Losing a vital member of their team captain Tristian Nava (C/O 2022) the boys needed to replace his overwhelming goal contributions of 1.8 a game. In addition to that, losing ten other seniors felt like a gut punch to the Vikings new season hopes. Although the lax boys maintained their confidence throughout the process, and having been moved down a division for no apparent reason, the boys looked to capitalize. In their first test of the season, the Vikings had a prep school giant come to town, Chaminade. The Vikings clamored their way to a victory, captivating the crowd as Joaquin Nava (C/O 2023) scored a golden goal winner in double overtime. After this the Vikings split wins and losses and went into league at 5-5. In league however the Vikings laid claim to a perfect record as Ocean league champs at 6-0 and during that time they surmounted a 2-1 record out of league bringing their overall...

  Senior Night Recap     By Nathan Vasquez SAMOHI Boys basketball ended their season on a high note on Thursday. The Vikings won 66-61 in a thriller against the Culver City Centaurs. Point Guard Luke Hecht (Class of 2024) spoke on the impact of Santa Monica Transfer John Plater (Class of 2023) during the game. “I think it's disrespectful when someone gets introduced in a game and especially a former team and they don’t shake hands with the coach, Everyone did it from both teams except for him, and it definitely gave us extra motivation.” Luke states.  He continues to say “It’s pretty funny when someone(John Plater) talks smack about another team and then proceeds to lose.” talking about his (John Plater) impact on the game. He finished by saying “The Environment in the gym was unreal, I had an injury in my ear and to be honest, it was hard to deal with a headache with that type of crowd. It was truly amazing and the Blue Crew went crazy with their chants...

CifSS Girls Volleyball Playoff Recap By The Lucas Salmaggi   Division 1 CIF Girls Volleyball Regional Championship games, winners go on to face each other in State Championship. Game I Palos Verdes (22-8) @ Vista Murrieta (23-10) This matchup is 100% turning out to be the most exciting matchup of the round with #2 in the bracket, Palos Verdes playing Vista Murrieta. I’ve analyzed both teams' regular season and based on that will make my predictions on what the score will look like, and my ones to watch players from both sides. I believe that PV will come out on top with the score being 3 Sets to 1. Vista Murrieta will win the first set but PV completely takes over and takes three straight. I also analyzed Vista Murrieta and Palos Verdes path to the the regional finals and with PV beating a tough #3 Huntington Beach 3-2 in the semis while Vista Murrieta not only shut out #5 Aliso Niguel 3-0 in the quarters, but upset #1 La Costa Canyon 3-0 in the semis, I still believe P...

                           Santa Monica High School Basketball Preview By Jayden Montanez and Luke Hecht Recap of last season: In the 2021-2022 Santa Monica Basketball season, the Vikings were crowned Bay League Champions. Led by the Co-MVP’s of the league the Vikings ran through the league tournament upsetting the one seed Mira Costa and beating the centaurs in their backyard in the Championship game. The Vikings fell to the Calabasas Coyotes in the second round but the season was a success. Only having two Senior key contributors, the Vikings seemed to be able to run the 22-23 season with the same players. Despite this, the Santa Monica basketball team is very different as many players have transferred away. New Beginnings: Confidence is still very high surrounding the team though, as returning key Varsity players Anton Berge-Wells (Class of 2024), Paco Vandenbrook (Class of 2024), Luke Hecht (Class of...

 Cif SS Round 2 Recap (Divison I)  By Nathan Vazquez This week in the CIF Southern Section Playoffs there were many interesting matchups and some resulted in major upsets, this blog will highlight some of the great games from last Friday. Division 1  I.   Centennial (9-1) vs Mission Viejo (9-1) Score: 28-31 Mission Viejo won Mission Viejo led by three star receiver Mikey Matthews (Class of 2023) has been very dominant this year only suffering one loss the whole season which was to a very good Long Beach Poly team. Centennial led by three star quarterback Israel Carter (Class of 2023) has also been very dominant this year too, they had only one loss this season which was to the undefeated National number one, Mater Dei. There was a lot of hype going into this game because both teams had the same record and they didn’t have the talent that the other schools in their bracket had but both teams showed heart and looked very promising. This game was run heavy on both...

                                     Santa Monica Football Season Recap By Isaiah Fernandez, Payton Seals, Arman Chhiber and Wyatt Brown. Finishing the season at 2-8 on both levels of the Viking program wasn’t the ideal end to the season. From the get go the Vikings were set back with very little spring practices and not to mention an entirely new coaching staff and a whole new playbook. This was a season dedicated to the senior class of 2023 and they did their part. Kicking the season off with a big game against powerhouse Calabasas on their turf. Led by new stud starting quarterback Wyatt Brown (Class of 2026) they had a tough fight but fell short to Calabasas 41-14. Throughout the season, SAMO had some strong performances but fell just short. They beat El Segundo and Fairfax early in the season in their out of league games, already showing improvement from the season before....