Playing a hunch turned the momentum for Menlo football

Mafi Latu is a defensive tackle and right guard by trade and yet there he was, hanging around the sidelines like he was an extra defensive back.

“Mafi has played a lot of football over the years,” Menlo coach Josh Bowie said. “Sometimes he does things you don’t coach.”

Out of position but not out of line, Latu helped turn the momentum Menlo’s way when he intercepted a pass that led to a touchdown and sparked the Knights’ 44-25 come-from-behind victory in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division football opener for both teams.

“I kind of eyeballed the running back and he was looking to where he was going,” Latu said. “I felt like it was going to be a pass so I stayed out there. They ran that same play a couple of times before but they never ran it again.”

Before that play, Half Moon Bay was driving for yet another score and a potential 24-0 lead.

“Sometimes all it takes is one play,” Bowie said. “We were still sleep walking through the first quarter and that snapped us back into it. You could see the tide was starting to shift.”

Latu picked it off at Menlo’s 15-yard line and returned it 20 yards before getting stopped.

“That was enough,” he said. “I’m not built to run that far. I was out-of-bounds anyway so I just fell down. I was tired.”

The play ignited the Knights (4-2, 1-0), who proceeded to score 44 unanswered points before Half Moon Bay got into the end zone again.

“I was kind of mad and wanted to pump up the team,” Latu said. “After that we came back with energy. The whole offense picked up their play and the offensive line really pulled through.”

Even with the turnover, Menlo nearly wasted the opportunity. A long pass play was called back because of a penalty and receiver Jaden Richardson appeared to have sustained a knee injury on the play.

Concerns for Richardson’s well-being were soothed when he returned in time to catch a 28-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Alarcon, the first of three thrown by the quarterback.

Richardson later turned a 10-yard slant across the middle into a 76-yard touchdown play and then went 65 yards with an interception for another score.

Dillon Grady also scored from both sides of the ball on a 36-yard pass and then a 40-yard fumble return. Kevin Chan was on the receiving end of a 42-yard scoring toss.

“The guys have resiliency,” Bowie said. “We preach it and we work on it in practice. We only have 22 guys on the team and they know any one of them could suddenly become a starter so we prepare that way.”

There’s some history between the schools too. Half Moon Bay beat Menlo twice when both played in the Ocean Division two years ago. Those were the only two losses of the season for the Knights, one in regular-season play and the other in the Central Coast Section Division V championship game.

Half Moon Bay won 17 straight before losing in last year’s CIF State Division 3-A Championship Bowl game to Steele Canyon, 44-42.

Menlo ended a four-game losing streak to the Cougars. The Knights play a 7:30 p.m. game at Menlo-Atherton next Friday. The neighboring schools will be playing each other for the first time since 2014, a Knights victory that snapped a five-game losing streak to Bears, and the seventh time since 1999.

Jack Miller also delivered a key defensive play in the third quarter, when Half Moon Bay had a first-and-goal on Menlo’s 10 trailing 20-17. Miller stopped the Cougars runner for a loss and that eventually led to a missed field goal.

Justin Sellers also recovered a fumble, Chen intercepted a pass and Adam Kasser recorded his first seven tackles.