Culver City Topples Rival Samohi, Heads to Championships

 got its revenge.

In a major victory over its rival, the Centaurs will advance to the CIF Western finals after defeating the in the CIF semifinals Friday night.

After a scoreless first half, the Vikings were able to get on the board late in the game on a three yard run by senior Kori Garcia with 3:23 minutes remaining in the game. The extra point attempt was unsuccessful after a low snap, and Culver City went on to win 37-6 as time expired in the fourth quarter.

"We are looking towards the future. We just knocked off our rivals and sent them home," said defensive back Malik Deckard. 

The Westside rivals had met less than a month ago with Santa Monica beating Culver City  17–14 on its home field.

This match-up was different.

"Tonight was about revenge," said quarterback Lukas O’Connor. "They can have that senior night win. This means so much more. I am so happy we won. Whoever we face for the championship, they don’t know what’s coming."

The Vikings stopped Culver City’s first drive as senior defensive back Dylan Muscat intercepted a pass, but Santa Monica was unable to cash in and was forced to punt. With 4:25 left in the first quarter, Culver City drove to the Vikings 23 yard line.

Santa Monica’s coach Travis Clark called a time out to help his defense regroup, but the Vikings were unable to stop the Centaurs. Kevin Porche’s touchdown and Ret Tilman’s conversion gave Culver City a 7-0 lead.

“We were excited coming into this game,” said Clark. “It’s tough to beat a team twice in one season and they made the adjustments."

When Santa Monica’s  offense stalled again, the Vikings were forced to punt and midway through the first half, the Centaurs went to work.

Senior running back Ronald Jones ran 15 yards for a first down; quarterback Lukas O’Connor hit wide receiver Alex Jackson for a 19 yard gain; Kevin Porche ran for 23 and junior running back Akili Skannal’s touchdown hiked the Centaurs lead to 14-0.

The Vikings fought back as Kori Garcia ripped off an 18 yard run but again the drive stalled. Culver City struck again as O’Connor hit Alex Jackson, who ran 67 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0, and then O’Connor’s 15 yard touchdown strike to senior wide receiver Jimmy Haywood gave Culver City a 27-0 halftime lead.

The Vikings tried to come back in the second half but O’Connor found Kevin Porche in the endzone, giving Culver City a 34-0 lead with 8:47 left in the third quarter. 

Despite the strong running of London Lewis, Sebastian Larue and Kori Garcia, another drive stalled and Santa Monica had to punt again. The Vikings defense was much improved and forced Culver City to settle for a 40 yard field goal by Ret Tilman near the end of the third quarter that put the Centaurs up 37-0.

Santa Monica finally scored on Kori Garcia’s 3 yard run with 3:23 left in the game but Culver City’s high powered offense gave the Centaurs a 37-6 win.

"We came in pretty intense. We knew we had it in the bag," Deckard said. "We just had to come out and execute. It showed when we came and played with intensity and fire and we won it. 

Friday night’s game was only the Viking’s second loss this season as they finished first in The Ocean league with a record of 11-2. 

"We just tell the youngsters to pay attention and learn from this but we have a lot to look forward to in the future, and remind the seniors to hold their heads high, I am so proud of this team,” said Clark.

-- Patch contributer George Laase contributed to this report.