Vikings Ready for Toughest Challenge

Santa Monica High football coach Travis Clark will find out just how good his team is on Friday night when it travels north to Santa Clarita to take on Valencia. He can't wait for kickoff (at 7 p.m.) and hopes the players are up to the challenge.

Samohi is off to a fast start, having outscored the opposition 110-15 in its first three games--all at home. However, the Vikings' first three opponents have begun the season 0-10, while Valencia (1-2) has already played--and lost to--a pair of upper echelon teams in Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Chaminade.

"We're so up for this game and I feel this is the best we've been in my three years [as head coach]," said Clark, who played for Samohi from 1984-86. "Their defense is special, this is our first road game and I'm expecting it to be a tough game until the end. To win, we'll have to play all four quarters and we can't turn the ball over."

Turnovers have been costly for Samohi the last two years against Valencia. The Vikings turned the ball over 11 times in those two games and Valencia converted every one of them into points. Valencia has put up 63 points in each of the last two meetings between the schools, though Clark doesn't foresee that happening this time around.

"I'm confident that our defense will be able to stop their run," Clark said. "The last two times I was just focused on Valencia and trying to prepare for what they do. This time, I've focused on my team and we're going to do. I have tons of respect for that program, but we're not afraid and one way or the other we'll be battle tested after this week." 

Both teams are nicknamed the Vikings and in order to upset the Valencia version Samohi senior quarterback Christian Salem said his team simply needs to follow the gameplan.

"They are a very disciplined, well-coached team and they took it to us the last two years," Salem said. "The difference this year is that we have a lot of speed and we're more experienced. We have a lot of three-years starters. We have to stick to the same things we've been doing."

Valencia is ranked ninth in this week's Southern Section Northern Division poll and is coming off a 17-0 shutout of Palmdale. Samohi, meanwhile, has two shutouts in three games but has yet to crack the Western Division poll.

"That's okay by me, I love flying under the radar," Clark said. "Frankly, if I was voting I wouldn't have us ranked yet either, given who we've beaten."

For the second straight game, Samohi will be without USC-commit Chad Wheeler, a 6-foot-6 senior offensive tackle/defensive end who separated his left shoulder last Wednesday, two days before the Vikings' 42-0 rout of Anaheim Canyon.

"Chad is our leader, but losing him has opened the door for other guys to step up and they have," Clark said. "They'll need to keep doing it. I'm not going to make any predictions, but I know our team is going to fight until the end and the more physical team will walk out of their victorious."

Also Friday night...

St. Monica (2-2) vs. Blair (1-2) at Santa Monica College, 7 p.m.

The Mariners are coming off a 34-14 victory over Brentwood. Making his first start at quarterback, Luke Cain threw for St. Monica's first score and engineered four second-half touchdown drives.

After beating Fulton 5-14 in its opener, Blair has suffered back-to-back blowout losses to Duarte and Verbum Dei.