Brady Jung’s trifecta helps Menlo to win in CCS football opener

“Welcome to Menlo (football),” said Menlo School head coach Todd Smith.

Junior wide receiver Brady Jung is not only a two-way player, he also plays on special teams. In third-seeded Menlo’s Central Coast Section Division III first-round game, Jung scored on offense, defense and special teams to help his team pull away from visiting and sixth-seeded King’s Academy 37-20 in Atherton Saturday afternoon.

“At Menlo, we don’t have a ton of numbers, so it’s important guys play two way or three ways,” Jung said. “Most of [my teammates] have to go both ways.”

The Knights will go on the road for a 7 p.m. meeting Friday in Morgan Hill with No. 2 Live Oak. The Acorns beat No. 7 Soledad 49-9.

Adding to the pressure of a small roster was the fact Menlo (6-5) was missing four more starters, forcing Smith to shuffle his deck even more. Ari Krane, a starting guard, had never played center – until last Monday. Menlo was already down its starting center and his backup. Krane was the next man up and he moved seamlessly over a spot and handled the ball flawlessly.

He was then rewarded on defense when he stepped in front of a King’s pass for the first interception of his career and the play that iced the victory for Menlo.

“We needed to put out a bunch of different pieces,” Smith said. “I’ve been coaching ball for 18 years … and I’ve never had the amount of injuries we’ve had this year. … Krane deserves so many good things. He was a gigantic part of this.”

Krane was certainly helped by his 6-5 quarterback, senior Jake Bianchi, who guided the Menlo offense to 17 points. He completed 11-of-18 passes for 152 yards, with a pair of touchdown passes.

Jung’s 9-yard scoring reception, his only catch of the game, came off a Bianchi scramble, who found Jung on a crossing pass at the 7-yard line. Jung, turned, got the corner, juked one defender and went into the end zone to give Menlo a 17-13 lead with 7:54 left in the first half, a lead Menlo would never surrender.

But it was Jung’s special teams play that put momentum squarely on Menlo’s sideline. The two teams had already punted once to open the third quarter and King’s Academy, backed up to its own 3-yard line because of penalties and a bad snap, was forced to punt again.

The King’s punter took the snap at the back of the end zone and inexplicably, started to run to his right. When that avenue shut down, he attempted to punt the ball away — but it was smothered by Palmer Riley with Jung falling on the loose ball in the end zone, putting Menlo up 24-13.

“It kind of fell into my hands,” Jung said of the recovery. “That totally flipped the script.”

But Jung wasn’t done. After a Bianchi-to-Charlie King 38-yard touchdown strike put Menlo up 31-13 with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, King would finish with seven catches for 122 yards and a score, Jung rounded out the scoring for Menlo when he stepped in front of a Reid Black pass and took it to the house from 10 yards out to put his team up 37-13 with 8:39 to play.

While Menlo pulled away in the second half, the first half was much closer. Menlo took the opening kickoff and immediately gained 31 yards on the first play from scrimmage when Bianchi stepped up in the pocket and found a wide open King. Menlo eventually moved to the King’s 26-yard line before the drive stalled. Menlo went on to miss a 42-yard field goal attempt to come away empty.

It proved to be a big swing as King’s needed just one play to take a 6-0 lead. Black hit Lukas Morris on a bubble screen, who then sloughed off a number of would-be Menlo tacklers and raced down the left sideline for an 81-yard score.

Menlo answered back on its next drive. After picking up a first down, Bianchi found King for a 36-yard completion to the King’s 17. On the next play, Ty Richardson took a handoff and weaved his way through the King’s defense, bulling his way into the end zone for a 17-yard score. Ross Munchak’s extra point gave Menlo a 7-6 lead.

Menlo would end up with 85 rushing yards, led by Richardson’s 44.

King’s punted on its next possession and Menlo added to its lead when Munchak connected on a 30-yard field goal to cap a nine-play drive for a 10-6 lead.

On the first play of the second quarter, King’s took back the lead when Black found Ethan Price in the corner of the end zone for a 10-yard scoring pass to cap a six-play, 73-yard drive and a 13-10 King’s lead.

After a Menlo punt, the Atherton squad got the ball right back on an Eron Chen interception, giving Menlo possession at its own 49. A defensive pass interference call, followed by a 27-yard jaunt from Bianchi gave Menlo a first down at the King’s 9. On the next play, Bianchi took the snap and scrambled around to keep the play alive, finally finding Jung for the 9-yard score and a 17-13 lead.

Jung’s punt block recovery, King’s 38-yard catch-and-run and Jung’s pick-6 rounded out the scoring for Menlo, while the defense limited King’s to a late score in the fourth quarter with the game already decided.

Menlo did a solid job on limiting King’s running back Jaeden Underwood, who came into the game having rushed for more than 1,200 yards on the season and was averaging 126 yards per game.