After losing to archrival Sacred Heart Prep in his first two seasons on Menlo’s varsity football team, senior wide receiver and linebacker Jamie Forese was determined to change the narrative. “[Beating SHP] is something I really cared about a lot,” he said.
Consider Forese’s dreams fulfilled, as varsity football finished off 2024 with an 8-4 record which included the team’s first win over SHP since 2021. “It was a super successful season,” Forese said.
The team moved up into the more competitive Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division this year, joining the likes of Wilcox High School, Los Gatos High School and Menlo-Atherton High School. The team finished in fourth place with a 2-3 record. Junior quarterback Jack Freehill noticed the elevated level of play. “We knew it would be really tough […], but I think that we showed that we can compete in higher leagues and compete with anyone,” he said. Freehill, who accounted for 35 total touchdowns on the season, was a First Team All-League Selection.
On Nov. 8, the team beat SHP in a close 20-17 battle to claim the Valparaiso Cup in the 22nd annual Valpo Bowl. Forese described the energy on the field as “electric.” “The environment that we had there was so awesome, [with] the whiteout [theme], with the baby powder and everything. There was so much energy there. It was such a fun game.”
Head coach Todd Smith describes the emotions of the game as “pure joy and elation for our guys.” “It was a great night for not just our football program, but for everyone in the Menlo community,” he said.
After the win over SHP, the team defeated Christopher High School 21-14 in the opening round of the CCS Division II playoffs. “I feel like we kind of found our identity at the end of the season, which really helped us go into the playoffs knowing what we have to do to win games at a high level,” Freehill said.
However, the team’s season ended on Nov. 23 when they were edged out by Palma High School 24-23 in the semifinal, an unfortunate repeat of 2023 when the Knights were also narrowly defeated in the CCS DII semifinals. “Something we’ll lean on next year is that two years and five points have left us out of the big game,” Smith said. “What do we need to do to get [to the CCS championship], and how do we harness that hurt to where it can be positive?”
