Breaking away in the third quarter, the Menlo School football defeated Soquel 42-16 Saturday night at Cabrillo College to improve to 3-0.
The Knights made adjustments coming out of the half, combined a stout defense with a balanced approach for their third consecutive win.
Menlo senior Mackenzie Morehead again had a strong outing, completing 16 of 28 passes for 296 yards. Last week, he rolled up 350 passing yards, including two strikes each to receivers R.J. Babiera and Antonio Lopez. But, the Knights got their running game going as well with backs Charlie Ferguson (164 yards, two TDs) and Charlie Roth (72 yards).
Newton again praised Menlo’s steady play on the lines.
“The offensive and defensive lines were a highlight,” Newton said. “John Guiragossian did an outstanding job on both sides of the ball again, and Alex Gold, in his first game back from injury, did a good job on the defensive line and so did JH Tevis on the outside.”
The Menlo Knights overcame a few red-zone miscues in the first half.
“Largely we made fewer mistakes early on in the third quarter. We cleaned up our (reaction to) on-edge, rushing,” Newton said. “That enabled us to get Charlie Ferguson and Charlie Roth off the edge and got (Soquel) to widen out, and when they adjusted, we went back inside.”
Menlo next plays Carlmont on Friday at 7 p.m. at Carlmont in a tune-up for homecoming, a Peninsula Athletic League opener Oct. 9.
The frosh-soph team prevailed over Soquel 40-0. The Menlo Knights have outscored their opponents 102-14
-- Story submitted by Menlo School
RIORDAN WINS AGAIN
ATHERTON – It wasn't as pretty as the first game, but it counts the same.
Despite its offense never truly getting into rhythm, the Archbishop Riordan High varsity football team improved its record to 2-0, thanks largely to an impressive performance by its defense in a 26-9 victory at Menlo-Atherton High on Friday.
Senior defensive end Rocco Russell sparkled for the second straight week, registered 3 ½ sacks and 10 ½ tackles in leading a Crusaders defense that allowed just 141 total yards and -21 yards rushing.
"Defense and special teams won the game for us," Archbishop Riordan head coach Kevin Fordon said. "Offensively, we have to play much better if we are going to compete in the (West Catholic Athletic League)."
The Crusaders never quite kicked into gear offensively the way they did in their 48-21 season-opening victory at Sacred Heart Prep. However, the offense did enough, getting rushing touchdowns from quarterback Jackie Luavasa and running backs Raymone Sanders and Jason Greene and for the second straight week, Aidan Verba-Hamilton provided a score from special teams.
Archbishop Riordan led 12-3 when Verba-Hamilton took the second half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Luavasa connected with senior receiver Cedric McAfee for a two-point conversion and the Crusaders led 20-3 moments into the third quarter.
Verba-Hamilton now has two 94-yard kick returns for touchdowns in as many weeks to start his senior season.
Offensively, the Crusaders were led by the ground attack of Sanders and Greene, with the former producing 85 yards on 13 carries and latter adding 60 yards on seven rushing attempts.
The Crusaders close the non-league portion of their schedule this Saturday at Saint Mary's High in Berkeley. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
--From Riordan school site
RIORDAN'S SANDERS OK
The Internet message-board maven were wringing their hands a lot last weekend about the status of star Riordan running back Raymone Sanders, banged-up against Menlo-Atherton. Turns out, he was not seriously injured.
"Raymone will be fine," Riordan coach Kevin Fordon told Prep2Prep. "Nothing serious."
GIRLS’ TENNIS
Mitty 4, Sacred Heart Prep 3
Single
1. Sara Choy (SHP) def. A. Ryan 3-0 retired
2. Melina Stavropoulos (SHP) def. N. Pieczelewski 6-3,6-2
3. Tara Ritchey (SHP) def. P. Rowles 6-2,6-2
4. Taylor Mckelvy (SHP) lost. V. Tu
6-4,1-6,7-6(6)
Doubles
1. Paige Kelley / Katherine Salisbury (SHP) lost I. Orsi/ K. Petersen 7-6,(3)6-4
2. Lindsey Marcus / Natalie Rotenberg (SHP) lost C. Hsieh/ L. Moore 6-3,6-1
3. Sarah McGrath/ Dylan Lynch (SHP) lost. M.Tniong/ N. Kuo 6-4,6-4
SHP 2-2
GIRLS’ GOLF
West Bay Athletic League
Sacred Heart Prep 241, Mercy-Burlingame 269
Monday at Menlo CC (par 36)
Sacred Heart Prep
Maddy Ellison 45, Isabelle Chun 47, Lauren von Thaden 49,
Cami Steppe 50, Caroline Park 50, Sinead Haley 50,
Record 1-1, League 1-0
Mercy-Burlingame
Krystal Singh 49, Katie Carolan 52, Hannah Leahy 54,
Carmela Roque 56, Emma Curia 58, Ellen Leahy 68
League 0-2
THIS WEEKEND’S PREP FOOTBALL GAMES
Friday
NON-LEAGUE
San Mateo at Aragon, 7 pm
South San Francisco at Burlingame, 7 pm
Hillsdale at Christopher, 7:30 pm
Prospect at Cupertino, 6:30 pm
Half Moon Bay at El Camino, 7 pm
Marina vs. Harbor at Monterey Peninsula College, 7:30 pm
Carlmont at Menlo, 3:15pm
Monterey at Menlo-Atherton, 7 pm
Santa Teresa at Monta Vista, 7 pm
North Salinas at Santa Cruz, 7:30 pm
Oak Grove at Palo Alto, 7:30pm
Palma vs. Aptos at Salinas Sports Complex, 7:30pm
Gilroy at Piedmont Hills, 7 pm
Milpitas at Salinas, 7 pm
San Benito at Wilcox, 7 pm
Seaside at Scotts Valley, 7 pm
Alisal at Soledad, 7 pm
Terra Nova at Homestead, 7 pm
Watsonville at Soquel, 7 pm
Willow Glen at Lincoln, 7 pm
Woodside at Fremont, 7 pm
Yerba Buena at Mills, 7 pm
Clovis East vs. Overfelt at Clovis, 7:00 pm
Gunn at Harker, 7 pm
Hayward at Los Altos, 3:30 pm
Lowell at Jefferson, 7 pm
St. Mary's at Los Gatos, 7 pm
Vancouver Collegiate vs. Sequoia at Sammamish (Wa.) HS, 7 pm
SATURDAY
NON-LEAGUE
Alvarez at North Monterey County, 2 pm
King's Academy at San Lorenzo Valley, 2 pm
Sacred Heart Prep at Carmel (CA), 2 pm
Stevenson at St. Francis-CCC, 2 pm
Pacific Grove at Hilmar, 7:30 pm
Riordan at St. Mary's-Albany, 1:30pm
