The Menlo varsity football team beat Aragon High School on March 27, steamrolling the Dons with a final score of 40-14. The Knights scored 26 of their points in the first quarter.

The Knights’ record now stands at 2-0, their first win being a 30-7 victory against Hillsdale High School the previous week.

Junior Sergio Beltran led the team as the starting quarterback with four touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns. Beltran’s TD passes found the hands of three receivers: the first of which was senior Chris d’Alencon who, on the second play of the game, took off for a 49-yard touchdown. Sophomore Cort Halsey had two touchdown catches, and sophomore Robby Enright caught the other.

Beltran also ran for two touchdowns, as he finished the day with 70 rushing yards. He completed 27 of 38 passes for a total of 247 yards and had two interceptions. 

“We’ve been practicing extremely hard, even months before our first scrimmage, and it’s nice to see our work pay off,” Beltran said. “I think I played pretty well. [I] started off pretty nervous since it was the home field opener, and Aragon has some pretty big dudes, but when I start having fun and stop stressing, that’s when I do really well.”

Defensively, the Knights limited all of Aragon’s scoring to the second quarter where they scored on a 25-yard run and an interception. Junior Griffin Perks and sophomore Austin Stull both snagged two interceptions before the first half ended.

Despite the win, junior lineman Noah Kornfeld still noted the room for improvement. “I am really proud of how we played, especially [Beltran]. It shows how good we can really be if that wasn’t our full potential,” he said. Kornfeld emphasized capitalizing on every opportunity and cutting down on penalties as an immediate way to improve.

With this win, Menlo football moved into the top 25 in MaxPreps’ CCS rankings.