Senior Jackson Hopps of Culver City finishes off a steal with a break-away slam dunk during a boys basketball game last week at Culver City.
Culver City senior Emily Martin looks for shot on goal during a girls water polo game last week.
Senior Matty Agapitos of Culver City, (pictured here in an earlier game) scored the winning goal in the second last week to beat Santa Monica 2-1
The second season started this week for four Culver City High School varsity teams. Making the CIF playoffs is what high school teams play for because once you are in anything can happen. Just ask the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals. Every team that is invited to the Big Dance is hoping to be in the spotlight when it comes down to the final game in their division.
The boys' basketball team hopes to catch lighting in a bottle when they start their Division 1 playoff run on Friday at home against football powerhouse St. John Bosco. Their boys' basketball team is 19-9 which was good enough for third place in the Trinity league. The Culver City Centaurs are 14-5. They placed second in the tough Bay league.
"They are starting to understand what our whole philosophy is about," said Centaur head coach Michael Cooper after a game last week at Culver City. "It's about teamwork, good defense and good shot selection. As long as they do that, we will be okay."
Culver City will continue to rely on their best player, senior Jackson Hopps. "Jackson is the leader of the team, but I am looking for Conner (Scales) to step up and take a bigger role in what we want to do," said Cooper. "It's a team sport and as long as we play together as a team, we will be okay."
The Centaurs are an athletic team that relies on speed and a solid defense. "Everyone on this team has to do a lot of different things because we don't have a real big man," said Miles Singleton. "We can go pretty far in the playoffs." If the Centaurs win Friday, they will play the winner of the Fairmont Prep (16-6) versus Murrieta Valley (16-11) on Tuesday.
The girls' basketball team will start their Division 2A playoff run on Saturday at home at 7 p.m. against California. The Centaurs are 14-7 and California is 15-9. Just like the boys' team, the girls lack size, but they make up for it with good defense and teamwork. "We knew we were good enough to make the playoffs, now hopefully we can win some games," said Centaur head coach Julian Anderson this week. If the Centaurs get pass the first round they face the winner of Beaumont (25-0) or Los Osos (11-10) on Wednesday.
The girls water polo team started their Division 4 playoffs last Tuesday against Garden Grove on the road. The Centaurs came into the Tuesday game with a 14-9 record and Garden Grove was 15-13 as the number one team in the Golden West league. Culver City was an at large team from the Bay league. If they win their first playoff game, they play the winner of the Cypress (16-7) versus Rio Mesa (12-9) game on Thursday.
Boys' soccer will take their senior laden team into the Division 3 playoffs when they take on South Torrance on Friday at South Torrance. South Torrance is the number one team in the Pioneer league with a record of 14-2-2 while the Centaurs made the playoffs as an at large team from the Bay league with a record of 7-4-5. If the Centaurs win, they will play either Laguna Hills (8-4-4) or Savana (15-4-1).
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