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Culver City’s and Santa Monica’s football teams after their game at Santa Monica College on October 4th. Photo courtesy of twitter.com

 

A FRIDAY TALE OF TWO SOCAL CITIES CLASHING ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD AND VOLLEYBALL COURT

When my cousin told me that his daughter, who is on the Culver City Centaurs Girls Volleyball team,

Was going to take on their Westside rivals from my high school alma mater, Santa Monica’s Vikings, this past Friday afternoon at Culver City High School,

Being that the two teams’ football brothers were going to clash at Santa Monica College in Samohi’s (Santa Monica High) annual Homecoming game later that night,

I saw it as a golden opportunity to attend both contests, write about the atmosphere, and basically kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Particularly since these two events involved the school from the town where I lived, and where I worked as an elementary P.E. teacher two doors down from such school,

And the school whose name is on my high school diploma in the town where I lived, grew up in, and spend my formative years in for over twenty years.

Here’s my recap and experiences of the day…

 

Girls Volleyball, Santa Monica Vikings at Culver City Centaurs, 3:15 p.m.

I set off for the Del Goodyear Gymnasium at Culver High a little after 3:00 for the big match between Samohi and Culver, which I figured would be an epic clash considering that the two teams previous match went the full five games (matches are best of five), Santa Monica winning Game 5 and the match by a couple of points and leaving Culver heartbroken.

I got to the gym a little late to find that it was their annual “Dig Pink” match, promoting breast cancer awareness.

A fully packed house was listening to a young lady named Kelly Kawashima, who is a Culver High alum (class of 2003), a former member of their volleyball team, and a former coach of the Culver City Volleyball Club who is currently coaching with the Sunshine Volleyball Club in Manhattan Beach.

Who is also a breast cancer survivor.

She gave an inspired speech about her experiences with the disease and was expressing her gratitude for all the love and support that she got throughout her ordeal, speaking from the heart.

It was all quite touching, and I was glad to have gotten to chat with her afterwards and find that she is a nice and friendly young lady.

 

The Culver City Centaur Girls’ Volleyball team. Photo courtesy of cchs.ccusd.org

 

 

A fun shot of the Santa Monica High School Girls’ Volleyball team…

 

As for the match itself…

It was no contest as those Centaurs, after losing in such a heartbreaking fashion to the Vikings a few weeks before, were set on avenging that set back.

That match, which featured an atmosphere, spirit, and level of support among the Culver students and fans in the crowd at a level of fifteen on a scale of one to ten, complete with banners, shirtless students wearing pink letters on their chests, and very loud chants of “Whose house? C-House!!”, could be best described in three words,

Vengeance Was Served, as Culver swept Samo, those Vikings not scoring more than 17 points in any of the three games.

I was impressed with my cousin, junior middle blocker Daina Monroe, as she made some excellent hits and blocks and contributed much to the Centaurs’ sweep.

But she was far from the only Centaur who was a factor in the big win as I particularly noticed her teammate, senior Jayli Neely, who scored points galore with her hard hits and like Daina, stands over six feet.

Though I was a bit surprised that the match didn’t go the full five games like I had expected, I had a good time and was glad that it only lasted an hour and a half, as I got to leave for Santa Monica that much sooner for the second event of my doubleheader…

 

Samohi in action from a couple of years ago. Photo courtesy of youtube.com

 

Football, Culver City Centaurs at Santa Monica Vikings, Santa Monica College, 7:00 p.m.

I arrived on 17th Street and Colorado Ave on the Expo Line at around 5:00 p.m., and since it was a couple of hours before game time and about an hour before I would usually show up,

I thought that I would take a walk through my old neighborhood, which stood between the Expo Line station and where the game was at SMC.

A neighborhood where I spent 22 and a half years – 18 and a half in one house – from five days short of my ninth birthday to age 31.

As I walked up 17th Street with the memories of playing on such street as a kid swimming through my head, then turning left on Delaware Ave and standing before the tiny apartment that I lived in during my days at Will Rogers Elementary School,

Before making a right on 18th Street and walking past the duplex where I lived from mid-April of 1980 all the way to the day before New Year’s Eve in 1998,

One thought was more prevalent than anything else…

“I remember these streets and houses – especially my houses – being a lot bigger.”

Which is understandable considering that to a young kid and teenager, they are compared to the perspective of someone who’s fifty-something.

I arrived at SMC at around 6:00 to find the group that I was most involved in during my Samo days, the Samohi Viking Marching Band, warming up for the game.

It would have been just plain wrong to not visit that band, which I did, greeting their director, Kevin McKeown, who I had known for a long time.

I remember writing on this blog back in 2016 that my old high school band was excellent, better than the Samohi band that I was in during the early to mid-80s.

Three years later, that remains the case as I remarked to Kevin that if my 80s Samo band took a trip in a time machine to face his current Samo band, that current band would win.

 

Culver City’s Centaurs ready to roll, all decked out in blue. Photo courtesy of culvercitynews.org

 

All right, let’s get to the game…

Being that Culver’s football team was the clear rulers of high school football on the Westside, not only sporting an undefeated record going into their clash with Santa Monica,

Not only being defending CIF champions,

But being ranked in the weekly Los Angeles Times Top 25 poll, the first time (I believe) that a school from the Westside has been ranked,

While Samohi, while having improved on the gridiron the past couple of years, still had a ways to go before approaching the elite status that they enjoyed in the 1970s and 80s,

It was a forgone conclusion as to what the score would end up being…

Culver City 47 – Santa Monica 7

I do give my alma mater credit for continuing to play hard throughout and not quitting, as I noticed such during a second half where they were just being blitzed by the Centaur offense.

And they were successful at giving Culver a game in the first half, impressively tying the score at seven in the second quarter.

Reality set in for the Vikings, however, as the Centaurs woke up, scored four touchdowns within the last couple of minutes before halftime and the first few minutes of the third quarter, and never looked back.

The big highlight for me was at halftime, when as part of the Homecoming festivities there was a parade featuring the Samo band, various teachers and officials, and representatives of each class carrying the banners that they made, the senior banner being chosen as the best one.

Not to mention the revival of a longtime Samohi tradition, the Greenies (the girls’ water polo team in green paint), running onto the field.

Incidentally, congratulations to Jacob Dreifort and Zealand Yancy, who won Homecoming King and Queen, respectively, as they were crowned on the field.

The post game was cool too, as Culver City’s Marching Centaurs – another band that I regard highly as they remain very good, having come a long way from when I first saw them twenty years ago – joined up with the Samo band in playing a few tunes.

The combined bands sounded great of course, and I’m sure they did a great job at UCLA’s high school band day at the Rose Bowl the following evening.

When the lights at Corsair Stadium were turned off, the message to leave was given; I took that cue and headed home after what was a long afternoon and evening.

My biggest impression of this Westside rivalry between Santa Monica and Culver City High School is this…

That it’s a respectable and friendly one, a school rivalry that other rivalries whose participants may not get along as well would do well to emulate.

It reminded me of what high school sports and sports in general should be all about.

Once again, the main high schools from the two towns where I have spent the bulk of my life in gave me a good show and a good time.

Which I, once again, am appreciative of.

 

The crowd at SMC for Samohi’s Homecoming game this year was a lot like this one…