Senior offensive lineman Ty Corley celebrates a touchdown by senior Jake Shiff. Staff photo by Bella Scola.
By David Quezada
The Menlo Knights convincingly beat Woodside High School last Friday by a margin of 56-6 in a memorable homecoming, senior day victory.
Menlo’s performance was lead by Sophomore second-string quarterback Kevin Alarcon and junior Dillon Grady. Alarcon, filling in for senior captain and quarterback Emilio Simbeck, who missed Friday’s game in lieu of surgery, stepped up big, leading the offense with 162 passing yards and three touchdowns, completing 8 of 15 passes. Grady managed to put up 116 rushing yards, and add two running touchdowns to the stat sheet.
On top of Menlo’s outstanding offensive performance, the Knights’ defense was able to hold the Wildcats to only six points. The smothering performance was in large part due to the pressure put on the Woodside quarterback from the defensive line, led by senior captain JH Tevis.
Although the victory was encouraging for Menlo, the near future of the season has a few question marks that remain unanswered.Seniors Brody LaPorte, Aidan Israelski, and Xavier Dickinson, all starters on both sides of the ball, are all out for next week’s game, and their respective full recoveries may take even longer. Seniors Luke Anderson and Bruce Tickner will be called upon to play large roles in their absence.
Heading into the latter half of the season, the health of the Menlo roster will be of utmost importance as they become contenders for the league championship.
The Knights will travel north to Hillsdale high school next Friday night, taking on the Fighting Knights in a highly anticipated league matchup. Both teams are undefeated in league play, and Hillsdale has yet to be beaten this entire season. The game will likely decide the PAL – Ocean league championship.
Two years ago, the Fighting Knights of Hillsdale defeated the Knights of Menlo en route to an undefeated league season, earning them a promotion into the PAL – Bay division for the 2016 season. After struggling in the top league, they fell back into Ocean, and are firing on all cylinders like they were two years ago. This will be Menlo’s most important matchup so far this season.
