Just as it had the past two games, Menlo School football relied on its balanced offense while frustrating its opponents' offense. This time, Menlo defeated Sequoia 29-14 at home Friday to improve to 7-1 overall.
The Knights improve to 3-1, juggling the Peninsula Athletic League-Ocean race again with Sequoia falling to third. Half Moon Bay was 3-0 entering Friday's night's game against The King's Academy (1-2), in which TKA prevailed, 49-35, leaving Menlo and the Cougars now tied atop the division.
"Sequoia's always tough every year, they have huge guys and their lines are always terrific," Menlo receiver and defensive back Jack McNally said. "but I think we game-planned for them correctly - both offensively and defensively."
Menlo football has held its opponents scoreless through eight quarters in a span of three games. The Knights have outscored their opponents 300-98 and have three shutout wins this season. Menlo held Sequoia to nearly half its total yards.
In Sequoia's first possession after the half, Menlo junior Xavier Dickinson recovered a fumble at the Cherokees' 20. A pair of runs by senior Charlie Ferguson and an Evan King reception put the ball at the 5, and Ferguson ran it in with 5:50 left. Dickinson thrived in the play set up for him to blitz.
"It allowed the tackle to not be able to see me, and I got through easily and the quarterback fumbled the snap and I was able to recover the fumble," Dickinson said.
Less than a minute later, Dickinson read the slant, dropped in the passing lane and made an interception on third down, and ran back the ball to Sequoia's half-yard line. Ferguson again punched it in, and the Knights led 29-0 midway through the third.
Along with his fumble recovery and interception, Dickinson rolled up 11 tackles. He was joined by juniors JH Tevis and Baily Deeter, each of who accounted for 11 tackles.
In the second quarter, the Knights broke a scoreless tie when Hayden Pegley found fellow senior Jack McNally for a 30-yard score with 7:17 left. At the end of the quarter, senior King hauled in a 21-yard pass from Pegley, then McNally converted on a run, giving Menlo a 15-0 lead.Junior Dylan Williams was 3 for 3 on PATs and averaged 50.6 yards on kickoffs.
"We just played Menlo football and just played the way were supposed to and came out on top," Dickinson said.
