SOCES Fall Sports Update

By: Levon Grigoryan '25 (Boys Football), Samantha Gardose '24 (Girls Flag Football and Girls Volleyball), Alexia Rivera '24 (Girls Tennis), By: Sophie Kundel '26 (Cross Country)

American football is one of America’s most popular sports, if not the most popular sport. Every school strives to motivate and inspire a love for playing and watching football and after 4 years without a team, SOCES has finally been given this opportunity. Recently, our amazing football team won their second game against Blair with a crushing score of 71-25. Taking away the negative expectation thrust on the football team after the result of the first game, the team completely flipped the result and brought home a thrilling victory!

Aroutioun Gkrigkorian, grade 11, the team’s full back, gave a lot of insight about their grueling practices and how they pushed the team to win no matter what. Gkrigkorian stated, “It was hot, dry, and very difficult to breathe. Not only are you running in the heat, but you have to carry the weight of your pads. However, the only thing that could truly slow you down was your fear and lack of discipline.” The team would run routes and plays until it became muscle memory, and this takes hours and hours of practice everyday. Every single player goes into practice knowing it wasn’t going to be easy, giving, or nice, but their will to win trumped all other emotions. On top of that, the coaches never planned on giving any easy practices, because as Coach Ross said, “NO RICH PARENTS, NO ASSISTANCE, NO HANDOUTS, NO FAVORS, STRAIGHT HUSTLE, ALL DAY, EVERYDAY!”

Taking this mentality onto the field, our team was ready to win. Everything went silent, and as Aroutioun described it, “everyone was waiting, nervous and shaking, until the quarterback snapped the ball. It felt like the longest and heaviest couple of seconds I have ever experienced. But once the ball snapped, the steaming heat was let out with a raging passion towards the other team. We have to win this,” Aroutioun concluded. With this win and a recent loss against Malibu High School, the team looks forward to their game against USC Hybrid on September 22 at 7:00 PM.

As for girls football, this season was the first to have a girls flag football team! It is currently one of the fastest-growing sports in LAUSD. The season hasn’t officially begun, but they have been playing non-league games with an overall record of 1-3. Their first two games were on Monday, August 28th at Van Nuys High School against Van Nuys and Marshall. In a small interview, Sophomore Lyric Heck told SOCES Media how she feels about the new team, saying “I love flag football, it’s really fun, and meeting new people I would have never been friends with before has been very exciting. My goal for the team is to show everyone that we play hard and work even harder!” Everybody, make sure to wish the girls the best of luck in their upcoming season!

The Girls Volleyball team began their season on August 11th. The Lady Knights recently played against Fulton on September 15th but unfortunately lost with a score of 3-2. They are currently 4th in the league and have an overall record of 6-4. Junior Hailey Frait, captain of the team, shared how she felt in a small interview. She said, “We’re doing alright right now, there is definitely still time for improvement this season which is what we need to focus on.” The team has two upcoming away games on Monday, September 18th against VAAS and Thursday, September 21st against Vaughn. Make sure to go and support your Lady Knights Volleyball team!

To open up this fall season, the Lady Knights Tennis team had their very first game on Thursday, August 31 against Cleveland. They put up a good fight but sadly lost. With more games coming up on the schedule, the Lady Knights are ready to put their best foot forward going on. Current senior and Co Captain Francesca Iannone had a few words on the upcoming season, sharing her thoughts on how practices and being on the team has been. “We’re super excited about our season this year. We have an amazing group of girls and we all get along so well. We’ve been working hard and we can’t wait to play more!” Their next game is on Monday, September 18 at Poly High School. Don’t forget to show your support to all of the SOCES fall sports teams and wish them luck. Have a great season Lady Knights!

While a new sport has been introduced this year, it’s important not to forget those that have continued their programs successfully this year. One of the most active and popular sports SOCES is none other than Cross Country. Most members also participate in Students Run LA and Track & Field, which round up the running programs that have members train year-round. The cross-country season is coming up closer and closer and all the runners are prepared to win. This year our SOCES Cross Country team coach is Coach Joel Valle, who has fully taken over as Coach Jose distanced himself from coaching for a while. With practices almost every school day and additionally on weekends, the Cross Country team is ready to start off their season and establish themselves in the league. At their practices, they run many miles and many hills trying to prepare for the competitive races coming up. The first Cross Country race is on September 28 vs. the Jaguars from Fulton College Prep. The meet will be held at Pierce College at around 2:30 P.M, with races starting every 30 minutes until 4:00. Race times are based on gender and JV or Varsity status. The next races will take place on October 5 vs. VAAS, October 12 vs. East Valley, October 19 vs. Northridge Academy, October 26 vs. VAUGHN, and finally on November 2, Valley League Finals. Make sure to come out and support your SOCES Knights Cross Country team!

With 2 new sports coming to SOCES this season, SOCES school spirit has never been higher. It's also important to support our athletes at their games. Come show your support at the football game that is taking place here at SOCES on Friday 9/22 at 7 pm.