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Sacred Heart Prep moved back into sole possession of first place in the West Bay Athletic League boys' soccer race following a 6-0 romp over out-manned Priory on Monday in Atherton to open the second half of league play.

The Gators moved to 7-0-1 in league for 22 points with second-place Menlo School three points back at 6-1-1. The teams will meet for a second time this season on Feb. 13 at Sacred Heart Prep.

The Gators (10-2-2 overall) bounced back from a disappointing scoreless match with King's Academy last Friday to easily topple the Panthers. Brendan Spillane scored the eventual winning goal on a penalty kick in the first half before adding a second goal plus two assists in the second half.

SHP coach Armando del Rio was able to give plenty of playing time to much of his roster as Eduardo Carrillo, Matthew MacFarquhar and Philip Petrakian all tallied goals as starters rested.

Nick Salzman added one goal and one assist for SHP, which has very winnable matches against Pinewood (Wednesday) and Crystal Springs (Friday) this week.

Menlo, meanwhile, will face stiffer competition at Harker (Wednesday) and home against King's Academy (Friday).

In the SCVAL El Camino Division, Palo Alto kept its slim postseason hopes alive with a 3-0 victory over visiting Cupertino in a match rescheduled from last week.

Senior Chris Meredith paced the Vikings (5-2-1, 9-4-2) with a pair of goals, the winner coming in the first five minutes. He added a second unassisted goal at the 13-minute match before sophomore Wes Woo took a pass from senior Perry Kollias and made it 3-0 in the 30th minute.

Paly had 12 shots on goal in the first half while converting three. Cupertino had just one, which was saved by Paly keeper Tony Maharaj.

Alex Chin and Kirby Gee had nice defensive games for the Vikings while holding the Pioneers to just two shots on goal.

Paly will host Gunn on Wednesday in a nonleague match (3:30 p.m.) before hosting first-place Fremont on Friday (also 3:30 p.m.). The Vikings need to win their final four matches to, most likely, have any chance of reaching the Central Coast Section playoffs as only the division winner gets an automatic berth.

In the PAL Bay Division, host Menlo-Atherton fell back in the race after dropping a 1-0 decision to Carlmont. The Bears are 4-3-1 in league (7-4-2 overall) and have lost two of their past three.

"It was ugly," said M-A coach Jacob Pickard. "Maybe the fact that we are in a rebuilding year is starting to show. It's a long season and it's catching up to us. We were clearly second best on the field today. We didn't create any chances anywhere on the field."

In the SCVAL De Anza Division, the rescheduled Gunn at Homestead saw the host Mustangs pull off a 3-1 victory. The Titans fell to 3-4-1 in league (5-8-2 overall).

In the WBAL, the King's Academy at Pinewood game was not reported.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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