On Aug. 31, Menlo Varsity Football played a non-league game against the Fremont-Oakland Tigers, dominating with a 65-0 victory. The Knights scored the first touchdown with a 29-yard pass from senior Justin Sellers to senior Jaden Richardson within the first 4 minutes of the game. On the following kickoff, Fremont had a four-yard loss thanks to sophomore Tyler Flynn racing down to make the tackle. . shortly after, Samson Axe ran 17 yards to add another touchdown to the score with one minute and 30 seconds left in the quarter, totaling a 14-0 lead heading into the beginning of the second quarter. 

With 10 minutes and 48 seconds left in the second quarter, junior Chris d’Alencon caught a screen pass from Sellers and took it 25 yards to score the Knights third touchdown of the game. Senior Ryan McKee scored two back-to-back rushing touchdowns to push the Knights to a score of 35-0. McKee rushed for 13 yards in his first touchdown and proceeded to run 24 yards to secure his second touchdown shortly after. Making his varsity debut, sophomore Jack Giesler got an interception with one minute and 30 seconds left in the half. In the final sixty seconds, fellow sophomore Tyler Flynn, also making his varsity debut, caught a 45-yard pass from senior Kevin Alarcon to score the final touchdown of the first half. 

Senior Miles Hester started the second half with equal intensity by recovering a forced fumble, caused by Jaden Richardson, and returning it to score. The proceeding extra point attempt missed, but nonetheless, the Knights continued to impress. Senior kicker Santi Garcia-Mendez made six out of his seven total extra-point attempts and added a field goal to that. The game continued with little movement until junior Sam Chung reached the end zone for a 13-yard rushing touchdown with 6 minutes and 37 seconds left in the third quarter. Junior JP McKenney ended the game with a rushing touchdown, followed by Garcia-Mendez’s eighth successful kick of the game. The Knights destroyed Fremont with a final score of 65-0, as their defense held up by never allowing the opposing team to reach the endzone. 

Players argue the final score was actually 71-0 as d’Alencon scored a touchdown in the final minutes of the game. Originally the touchdown was counted, but after a few seconds the score keeper changed the scoreboard back to 65-0. According to d’Alencon, “We all agree [that the touchdown counted, there’s] just some conflicting reports out there.” Controversy surrounding this continues to stir, but nonetheless, the Knights held their victory over the Tigers. 

Menlo’s next game is against Piedmont on Friday Sept. 6 at 7:00 pm.