The Valencia Vikings honored their seven seniors on Senior Night as they dominated the game against the West Ranch Wildcats to win 80-49, and extend their league record to 7-1, and overall record to 21-5.

The night proved to be very special indeed as the seven seniors being celebrated included Gilbert Camacho, Kevin “Kj” Jones, Grant Kim, Jake Hilwiak, Kevin Konrad, Eli Brill, and Justin Neuman. 

Senior Camacho stuffed the score sheet with 24 points, Hilwiak had 14 points, Jones finished with 7 points, Kim and Konrad each scored 5 points, Neuman had 3 points, and Brill had 2 points. 

Assistant Coach Jeremy Paggao shared how it felt to get a win on their final home game of the season and how proud he was of the seniors.

“It was great. It’s a great feeling to watch a lot of these guys grow up in the program for four years and just to send them off the right way. They played really great they played together. They shared the ball really well today. I’m also super proud, and the seniors have done nothing but represent Valencia and Valencia basketball really well over the past four years. I remember when they all walked off with about a minute 40 something seconds left just hugging them and telling them how so proud I was that they made it here.”

West Ranch came out and matched Valencia’s intensity in the first quarter as both teams came out ready to play.

Each team applied full-court pressure and the Wildcats kept up with the Vikings trailing 1 point at the end of the first quarter, 12-11.

The second quarter is where the Vikings pulled away and went into halftime up 36-20.

It was downhill from then on out.

The Vikings went up 60-33 at the end of the third quarter and ended up winning by 31 points, 80-49.

With this, the Vikings defensive strategy proved to be too much for the Wildcats and the Vikings just had more firepower to ultimately win the contest.

Assistant Coach Paggao stated how the switching of their defensive strategies from the full-court press, to a man to man defense, to a 2-3 zone defense contributed to their success for the night. 

“To be honest we just didn’t feel like ourselves after the loss against Hart or this past Tuesday so we definitely just had to pick it up. We had to be ourselves we just had to make sure that we kept up the intensity defensively. The energy was there the whole time and we just told the guys to maintain that energy and be us. I think defense was kind of engrained in their mind going into tonight’s game.”

The seniors are on a journey of closing one chapter and entering another, and Senior Point and Shooting Guard Kevin “Kj” Jones reflected on what he will miss most about playing with his teammates here at Valencia.

“What I will miss is just being in the locker room before and after the game. After a win or before a win just the hard work we put in together. It’s like a bond we’re like brothers. I mean we’re always on each other but then we love each other on and off the court no matter what it is we’ll take up for each other any day. And just like with the coaches it’s like a family, we keep this family-oriented because even when we leave we can always come back we’ll always be loved. We all love each other for life, and for the rest of our lives.”

With the loss of a legend and an icon recently in Kobe Bryant, Jones looked back on how he was inspired by the legend himself.

“He did inspire me, I mean the mentality, the hard work he put in I mean he used to get up at 4 in the morning and he said probably 4-5 hours of sleep was good for him. He always used to put up shots and was always in the gym and always grinding always had the mentality to grind and always had to be better than everybody and always proved it. I mean legends come but legends never leave, like they never go away. They’ll always be remembered and Kobe’s actually one of them. He’s inspired many people across this world. 

To lose somebody like that for this basketball world is tough and you see a lot of people in tears every day just trying to remember him. He was a mentor. Not only was he a good basketball player but he was a good father. He had kids, he had a good wife, he was always a good person, and he was a good entrepreneur. He was inspiring others to be great just like him. Everybody wanted to follow him, everybody wants to be someone like that one day. I mean it takes hard work just like him.”

The Vikings are looking forward to the playoffs and Assistant Coach Paggao states that they have their sights set on winning more than the Foothill League Title.

“Since the beginning, we’ve always told the guys how much talent they have on the team and to look further past the Foothill League. We’re in Division 1 and that’s not easy, but I think we have the talent and we have the elements to make a good run. Winning foothill league is great but we have our eyes set on something bigger than that. I think that has fueled the guys and they understand that they have to keep this level of play up every single night and I think we’re just riding that throughout the whole season.”

Valencia has two more league games left for the season and is scheduled to play against Golden Valley on Tuesday, February 4 at 6:30 pm.

KHTS Sports is your place for the 2019 Santa Clarita high school football season and your Santa Clarita Dodgers coverage. Find all the latest news and updates on your hometown schools here as they compete in the Foothill League, Heritage League, Western State Conference and GSAC.