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Bay League, California Interscholastic Federation, CIF, CIF Southern Section, Culver City Centaurs, Culver City High School, Culver Cty, football, high school football, Los Angeles Times, Samohi, San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica Vikings, Westside
Samohi’s (Santa Monica’s) football team crashing through their banner before their clash vs Culver City…
A RETURN TO MY FORMER HOMETOWN TO SEE A CLASH BETWEEN TWO RIVALS
I was fully aware that I had covered these two Westside high school football teams before on this blog,
Notably as part of a doubleheader with their girls’ volleyball counterparts that I wrote and posted four years ago;
Here’s the link to that write-up: http://www.socalsportschronicles.wordpress.com/2019/10/07/friday-night-lights-a-rivalry-doubleheader-between-two-westside-towns-in-two-sports
Being that it was the end of the regular season, with spots in the CIF playoffs being determined all over So Cal, including in my Westside neck of the woods,
Even though the game wouldn’t decide the Bay League championship as Palos Verdes, who is ranked 12th in the Los Angeles Times’ high school football poll, had locked that title up with their undefeated season,
Being that with Samohi having a 1-3 record in league play and in a must-win situation with Culver City to have a chance at postseason play, or so I thought (more on that later),
I reckoned that for the first time in two and a half years, I would venture to my former hometown to see this annual renewal of Westside rivals,
And to also see them play on the Samohi campus, where they moved their home games to last year after over seventy years of playing at Santa Monica College.
Which I was a bit shocked over when I heard that news, wondering why that alma mater of mine’s athletic department and administration would throw away over seventy years of tradition.
When I asked a security guard about it at the gate, he said that it was about money and that the Samohi administration and (I’m sure) the school board felt that the money being paid to rent Corsair Field would be better spent on other things,
Plus it would give them all – students, teachers, parents, etc. – the opportunity for their football team to play their games on their campus.
Which I suppose I understand, though in being old school I would have preferred that Samo remained at SMC for their football contests.
So on the evening of October 26th I set off to Santa Monica to do this blog’s annual “Friday Night Lights” feature,
While it featured teams I had covered before, a school that I graduated from facing off against the school that’s a fifteen minute walk from my home,
I felt that with supposedly so much at stake for Samohi’s Vikings, it would be a good thing for me to cover.
Culver City’s football team entering their field before a game…
So I took the Metro E-Line, formerly known as the Expo Line, to Santa Monica,
Passing through my old neighborhood at the 17th Street stop on the way to the end of the line at 4th Street adjacent to downtown, the Third Street Promenade, the Santa Monica Pier, and all the other haunts that the town where I spent my formative years in was and is famous for.
In my grand tradition of focusing on the atmosphere of the game as much as the game itself if not more,
I made it a point to visit Samo’s band room to say hello and chat with their marching band director, who I had known since he was twelve, him being in seventh grade at John Adams Middle School while as an SMC student at that time, I was an aide there.
It was a very nice visit, him showing me some trophies from 1980 in particular, which invoked some memories as while I wasn’t in the Samohi band just yet that year, me being in the eighth grade, I knew some band members from that time.
I also made it a point to greet Culver City’s band and their director, who made the nearly eight-mile trip west to support their Centaurs;
As they played while I was sitting behind the end zone at the start of the game, my prevalent thought was how good they sounded and how that had come a very long way in the twenty-five years that I have been living in Culver City and seeing that Centaur Band.
Another prevalent thought in my mind was how glad I was that I wore a hooded sweatshirt to the game as with Culver City being a few miles inland, I would almost always forget how chilly Santa Monica would get in the evenings every time I visited there,
Especially where the Samohi campus and football field is on 4th Street, which is four blocks from the ocean and the sea breezes that render that area as chilly and outright cold at times.
So with both teams sporting a 6-3 record going into kickoff, the game began with Culver scoring the game’s first three touchdowns, including a 78-yard strike on the very first play, my remarking “That was quick!” upon seeing that.
As I was going to be at the Rose Bowl the next day to watch my collegiate alma mater, UCLA, take on Deion Sanders – “Coach Prime” – and his Colorado Buffaloes the next day, I was planning on leaving after halftime to go home and get my needed rest,
Which was reinforced by Culver’s big lead.
The halftime show provided by Samohi’s Viking Marching Band was best described with one word:
OUTSTANDING.
It certainly would have put the Samo band from my days to complete shame, although that band was quite formidable as well;
As they had a band competition in the San Fernando Valley the next day, I’m positive that they did very well.
I watched it with someone who, while I was walking was calling my name a few minutes before while I was walking back to the field after getting some water;
I didn’t recognize her at first, but when she told me her name (which I won’t say for privacy reasons and out of respect), the memories came crashing back into my gray matter as she turned out to be a John Adams and Samo band mate of mine, graduating two years after me with her sister, who I was also in the John Adams and Samohi bands with, having been one grade above me.
I hadn’t seen her in over three and a half decades, and it was great catching up with her as she has made a career as a teacher in the Santa Monica-Malibu district.
As was said,
With the game being a Centaur blowout at halftime, I was planning on being home early;
Until Samohi completely changed those plans in making like Rocky Balboa and making the contest a true fight in staging a furiously crazy comeback, scoring what would have been the tying touchdown in the middle of the fourth quarter if not for the extra point being blocked.
I reckoned that those Vikings would get one more chance, but Culver’s offensive line imposed their will in keeping the ball on the ground and eating the clock up in securing their 27-26 win.
Which I know was absolutely heartbreaking for my alma mater’s players as with their league record at 1-4 at that point, I figured it would be the last game for Samo’s seniors,
Who I of course I felt for.
When I found out in the L.A. Times’ sports section that they were admitted into the postseason anyway as they will face Santa Ana in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 9 playoffs – at home as a 3 seed no less,
I was happy for them, but puzzled over how Culver, having beaten Samo head-to-head and having a better league and overall record, was shipped out as a 14 seed and is slated to face Chino Hills Ayala in Division 4’s first round.
I left when the Centaurs went into victory formation, hearing Samohi’s alma mater “Hymn of Praise” as I headed for the E-Line, my thought being that that football team of Santa Monica High School’s deserved MUCH credit for the heart and guts they showed in making their game vs Culver City a real battle when they were on the verge of getting smashed.
Which showed the character that coach Carter Paysinger evidently imprinted on them.
Of course I certainly hope that both teams go far in their playoff runs.
And as always, I had a good time in my old hometown and at my alma mater watching what turned out to be a hard fought contest between two Westside schools and towns.
A photo of Santa Monica High School’s navy blue turf…