Samohi hopes to get back on track against Inglewood Sentinels
SANTA MONICA COLLEGE After two consecutive heartbreaking losses that came down to the wire, Santa Monica High School looks to rebound against a conference foe they’ve had their way with the past three years.
The Vikings dropped another close contest against an undefeated Culver City High School team last weekend on the road, scoring a touchdown with 14 seconds left in the game to pull within three.
But the Centaurs recovered the onside kick and held on to win the game 30-27.
Samohi enters tonight’s game against Inglewood High School with identical overall season records but with a slight disadvantage in league play — the Vikings are 1-2 in the Ocean League while the Sentinels are 2-1.
“I thought our kids played very well on Friday night,” Samohi head coach Zach Cuda said on Thursday. “I think the score indicated a close game.”
The Vikings led 20-13 early on in the third quarter after the Centaurs blocked an extra point. But quarterback Darius Banks threw a 45-yard touchdown to receiver Antwon Moutra to tie the game up.
The Centaur later kicked a 37-yard field goal and scored another touchdown with 6:15 left to go up by 10.
“Anytime it’s a close game, it comes down to a couple of breaks — the way they’re officiating calls or the ball bounces the right way,” he added. “Unfortunately for us on Friday night, the breaks didn’t go our way.”
Coupled with the 28-26 loss the previous week against Beverly Hills High School when Samohi quarterback Ryan Katz was tackled at the half-yard line in an attempt to complete a two-point conversion, the Vikings are probably happy to be back home.
“It’s been tough but the thing we keep stressing to the kids is that the loss is to a playoff caliber team,” Cuda said. “We lost by an average of 4.5 points over the last three (losses).”
In a twist of circumstances, Inglewood is coming off a two-game winning streak, most recently with a 25-7 victory against Beverly Hills.
But recent history shows that the Vikings have been able to hold its own against the Sentinels, winning decisively the past three years.
Third-year head coach Charles Mincy has been unable to get his team to finish in the top three of the league since the beginning of his tenure.
The team has already beaten 2006 league co-champion Beverly Hills and topping Santa Monica could lead Inglewood to a successful season, Mincy said.
“They’re a team that we haven’t beaten,” Mincy said on Thursday. “We would like to add them to the beaten list.”
The Sentinels exhibit a similar offense to what the Vikings saw two weeks earlier, something that definitely caught the coaching staff’s attention, Cuda said.
Inglewood will be led by senior quarterback Marlon Johnson, who has reportedly been recruited by several Pac-10 and other Division 1A schools. Running back David Freeman and wide receiver Shaquelle Evans round out the scoring tri-fecta for the Sentinels.
The way Mincy sees it, the key to the game will be containing Katz.
“He makes plays and we have to keep him from doing it,” Mincy said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 2, 2007. Read the original PDF.