After years of playing in separate leagues, Channel Islands is finally back in the same league as its longtime rival, the Hueneme High Vikings.

CI has been in the Channel League, while Hueneme was moved to the Citrus Coast League a few years back. This year, CI also joined the Citrus Coast League for all sports except football.

On December 15-16, our soccer and basketball teams, both boys and girls, faced Hueneme High School. Over the years, our athletes know people that go to Hueneme which fires the rivalry even more due to the eagerness to beat them. 

Girls basketball got a victory over the Vikings, 58-8. Boys basketball led a successful 72-45 win. Boys soccer defeated the Vikings, 2-0. Girls soccer beat the Vikings 3-0.

Christopher Martinez, a senior and captain for the CI varsity soccer team, is proud to lead the team for a successful season. 

“I can say I’m proud to be leading this amazing team to a successful season,” he says, “Especially since we are seen as the underdogs due to schools like Oxnard and Pacifica getting so much hype.” 

During 2019-2020 season, Channel Islands won CIF and when asked about it, this is what Martinez had to say: “I’m hoping for a run similar to the 19-20 team made.” he says, “Winning league, winning CIF, but the team and I don’t want to come is short in state, we want to bring it all to CI.”  

CI soccer also has some connections with other athletes from other teams, some from playing in a club team together which many describe as making the game more fun. Senior, Brianna Rodriguez, on the CI girl’s varsity team describes her passion for their rivalry with the Vikings, “I really want to beat them.” She adds, “We are so determined and excited to beat them.” Rodriguez before the game states, with huge confidence, “I expect us to beat them by a-lot.”

Channel Islands boys and girls varsity basketball team faces Hueneme on Viking territory. With Girl’s varsity shaky start to their season, the win against Hueneme feels great, but is also needed. One of the girl’s varsity captains, Sophia Navarro, says, “We want to beat Hueneme, especially since they talk a-lot.” 

A rivalry game brings in more excitement to the players and the crowd. Navarro believes the team is “more into it and ready to play” whenever it comes to rivalry games. 

Varsity boys head coach Eduardo Ramos explains how the team “understood that they were playing to win and playing for pride.” Although they have beaten Hueneme during the summer, Ramos says, “Summer really doesn’t mean anything.” 

He adds, “Our guys know to treat every opponent like a championship team.” 

Senior Marc Ortiz explains how they couldn’t play Hueneme last year, but “with the transfer into the Citrus Coast League and actually getting the chance to play against our ‘rivals’ is fun.” When asked about what type of strategy they planned to use to defeat Hueneme, Ortiz says to “keep momentum going from the tip-off with the intention of pushing the ball.” He also says to keep playing defense and “using our press to cause turnovers.”

Channel Islands boys and girls varsity basketball team leaves Hueneme’s gym untouched. Girls with a huge blowout led by Sophia Navarro with 17 points and 6 steals to lead the girls to a 50 point lead. The Viking went through a rough night not passing double digits at all throughout the game. Nazir Ivey was the leading scorer for boys basketball dropping 20 points. Finishing with a double/double, Da’shaye Williams, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Marc Ortiz contributed 8 points and 3 blocks.

Channel Islands varsity, both boys and girls, leaves Hueneme scoreless and wins it for the Raiders. Their leading scorer, Benjamin Alguilar, netted two goals. One in the first half and another in the second half, assisted by Cristian Coesto and Adrian Nuñez, leaving the Viking with the 2-0 loss. Leading scorers for Channel Islands girls varsity were Aaliyah Flores netting a goal and Jonna Reyna with an easy free kick and assisted by Ashley Vivero, from the corner, made another. They left the Lady Vikings disappointed in their home field.