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Schools

Samohi Football Team 'Anxious,' Excited

The Vikings kick off the season Friday night at Santa Monica College.

Judging by Tuesday's practice, it was hard to tell who was more excited for the Santa Monica High School varsity football team's new season: the Vikings players or head coach Travis Clark. The season kicks off Friday night against Leuzinger at Santa Monica College.

"This is the most exciting time of the whole year," Clark said. "We've prepared for this all through the spring and summer, now I'm anxious to see how the team performs."

Clark finally got a chance to see his players compete against another team on Friday, when the Vikings hosted a scrimmage against South Torrance. However, no official score was kept, and he admitted that he didn't learn too much from the practice game.

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"South Torrance made the finals in the Northwest Division last year and they have great coaching over there," Clark said. "I'm proud of the way we competed against them. They scored a few points on us, but we scored some on them. Our starters moved it well on offense. We were really vanilla in terms of the play-calling, but I think we handled ourselves well. The most important thing is that no one on either side got hurt. We'll be rooting for them the rest of the way."

Starting quarterback Christian Salem was set to be the starter last season before injuries kept him on the sidelines. He ended up throwing only 11 passes, completing four of them for 59 yards and one touchdown. Now, he embarks on his senior year determined to make up for lost time. 

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"I've been waiting for a long time and I'm confident I can lead this team," said Salem, a 4.0 student who prides himself on being a real student of the game. "It's been four years, this is my last one and I want to make it count. It was tough having to watch other guys play the last couple seasons. It was frustrating, but it made me hungrier."

Salem believes the Vikings can light up the scoreboard this season if they execute their balanced, pro-style offense, paced by returning running backs Kori Garcia and Donovan Citrowski, and wide receivers Chris Collins and Dylan Muscat.

"I've got great receivers, we've got the timing down and I like our schemes a lot," he said. "Obviously, what we run will vary week to week depending on our opponent, but we have a lot of speed in the backfield and out wide that we can utilize. Playing quarterback is all about doing the little things right and I'm looking forward to it."

Though Salem can throw a perfect spiral 60 yards, Clark said his signal-caller sometimes holds back for fear of making a mistake. 

"Christian's got all the tools, he's a super smart kid and he's waited three years for his opportunity, so I want to see him succeed," Clark said. "He's got stuff to work on just like everyone else on our team. He's very analytical and sometimes he's afraid to throw it if he's not 100 percent sure that his receiver is open. If you don't throw the ball it won't be intercepted but it also won't be caught for a touchdown."

Samohi faded in the fourth quarter of several games last year and to combat that, Clark and his staff put extra emphasis on conditioning. He also said Juan Pavon, who was nearly perfect on extra-point kicks last season, will continue to take them but fellow senior Elliott Stahler will probably take the majority of field goals.

"Juan is so consistent on the PAT's, but Elliott's our distance guy," Clark said. "He's worked hard and he's earned his opportunity. He's pretty reliable from 45 [yards] and in."

Clark anticipates the Vikings' defense to be the best he's had in his three seasons. He described it as fast, aggressive and opportunistic.

"Most importantly, I want our defense to be disciplined," he said. "I want every player knowing where he should be on every play, know his responsibility and do his job. If everyone does his job, we should be really good."

One reason Clark is so optimistic is the presence of 6' 6", 265-pound senior defensive end Chad Wheeler, who has verbally committed to Arizona State. He also plays offensive tackle, but Wheeler likes the defensive side of the ball better.

"This is the best defense we've had since I've been here," Wheeler said. "The coaches have gotten us linemen in great shape, which is great since we all play both ways. I definitely think we'll be better in the fourth quarter and I think we can win eight games—minimum."

Leuzinger is coming off a 1-9 season that included a 42-6 rout by Samohi in its opener, but Clark isn't about to overlook the Olympians, who beat Samohi 33-19 at SMC in the 2009 in Clark's first game as coach. 

"With our schedule, we can't afford to take anyone lightly, we don't want to drop games," Clark said. "We're taking this one day at a time and all the focus right now is on Leuzinger. I took notes on how other teams in our division did in Zero Week and I believe we've got a big opportunity in front of us. We want to get our season off to a strong start."

Kickoff for Friday's season opener is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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