Breaking away in the third quarter, the Menlo School football defeated Soquel, 42-16, in nonleague action Saturday night at Cabrillo College to improve to 3-0.
The Knights made adjustments coming out of the half, combined a stout defense with a balanced approach for their third consecutive win.
Menlo senior Mackenzie Morehead again had a strong outing, completing 16 of 28 passes for 296 yards. Last week, he rolled up 350 passing yards, including two strikes each to receivers R.J. Babiera and Antonio Lopez. But, the Knights got their running game going as well with backs Charlie Ferguson (164 yards, two TDs) and Charlie Roth (72 yards).
Menlo head coach Mark Newton again praised Menlo’s steady play on the lines.
“The offensive and defensive lines were a highlight,” Newton said. “John Guiragossian did an outstanding job on both sides of the ball again, and Alex Gold, in his first game back from injury, did a good job on the defensive line and so did JH Tevis on the outside.”
Menlo overcame a few red-zone miscues in the first half.
“Largely we made fewer mistakes early on in the third quarter. We cleaned up our (reaction to) on-edge, rushing,” Newton said. “That enabled us to get Charlie Ferguson and Charlie Roth off the edge and got (Soquel) to widen out, and when they adjusted, we went back inside.”
Menlo next plays Carlmont on Friday at 7 p.m. at Carlmont in a tuneup for homecoming, a PAL Ocean Division opener Oct. 9.
Palma 31, Sacred Heart Prep 28
Sacred Heart Prep made history last season with a 13-0 season. In 2015, the Gators have also left their mark in program history with a rare two-game losing streak following a nonleague loss to visiting Palma on Saturday.
The Gators (1-2), who trailed 21-0 in the first half, haven’t lost two games since dropping two of three to finish an 8-4 campaign in 2011. Coincidently, Palma defeated SHP to end that season in the CCS Division IV semifinals. SHP now has given up 79 points in its back-to-back losses.
Palma raced away to a 21-0 lead with under eight minutes gone in the game and wound up with 409 total yards. Palma (2-1) led 31-14 at halftime, forcing the Gators to play catch up.
Lapitu Mahoni carried 19 times for 80 hard-earned yards and scored two touchdowns, and Isoa Moimoi tallied another for Sacred Heart Prep. Senior quarterback Mason Randall completed 15 of 22 passes for 157 yards. Senior wideout Nick O’Donnell had seven catches for 103 yards and one TD.
Adrien Beaulieu led the defense with 11 tackles with Schaefer Kraemer recovering a fumble.