Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Menlo’s Jack Freehill

“I was really grateful for the opportunity,” Freehill said. “As a lot of us know, Mikey McGrath is an absolute baller. So, I was super grateful to get that experience.”

Freehill’s 2023 started with adversity, however, as he suffered a concussion in Menlo’s Week 2 win over Carlmont. He left the field and didn’t return for two weeks, missing the following game against Watsonville due to the injury.

Now, with McGrath having graduated, Freehill stepped onto the field this past Saturday as Menlo’s starting quarterback. The Knights’ opponent was that same Carlmont team that knocked him out of action a year ago, and things went markedly different for the junior as Freehill has been named the first Daily Journal Athlete of the Week of the 2024-25 school year.

“He played with just guts and moxie,” Menlo head coach Todd Smith said. “Our quarterback play was just outstanding.”

Freehill engineered a wild 49-41 victory, one in which Menlo trailed twice.

After jumping out to a 14-0 lead, the Knights scuffled through the remainder of the first half as Carlmont rode a streak of 27 unanswered points into the locker room to go up 27-14. The Knights fired back in the third quarter to go up 28-27 on a Freehill touchdown pass, but Carlmont again had an answer, scoring the final TD of the third quarter on a Johnny Dunne pass to Brian Sagon with 29 seconds left in the period.

Freehill then took control, contributing to three straight Menlo touchdowns to start the fourth. The junior gained 245 total yards, going 18-of-31 passing for 176 yards with four touchdowns, and rushing six times for 71 yards and two more scores, giving him six total TDs on the day.

“We fought adversity,” Freehill said. “It’s good to see we can go down two scores and win. That’s not easy to do.”

The victory was hardly a mere Freehill show.

Carlmont’s quarterback Dunne accounted for nearly twice as many passing yards, going 14-of-34 for 328 yards, with receivers Sagon (five catches, 181 yards, one TD) and Sean Chopoff (four catches, 132 yards, two TDs) his post prolific targets.

Then there was Menlo running back Chuck Wynn, who powered for 153 yards on 30 carries, including a pivotal fake punt early in the fourth quarter to prolong Menlo’s second comeback drive — a fourth-and-7 play that saw Wynn break a tackle two yards in front of the first-down marker for an effort Freehill called the play of the game.

“That was just a huge momentum shift,” Freehill said. “Once we saw that, it was just morale, everything. ... I think that gave us the momentum to win.”

Freehill didn’t record a ginormous passing number thanks to the Menlo offense consistently being given short fields. The pivotal statistic in the game was Carlmont’s five turnovers, with Menlo totaling three interceptions — two by senior Ryan Jabal, and one by senior Tyler Fernandez — and two fumble recoveries.

The junior quarterback set the tone early, though, getting the Knights on the board less than two minutes into the game with a 61-yard scoring scramble, Freehill dodged two early tackles before picking up a downfield block from wide receiver Jack Enright — just the way Jerry Rice used to do for Montana and Young — and low-flying into the end zone.

“He was in the pocket, we got man-to-man coverage across the board, everyone’s back was turned and next thing you know he slips through the B-gap,” Smith said. “And he’s really fleet of foot.”

Later in the quarter, Freehill put Menlo up 14-0 with a 3-yard scoring pass to Jamie Forese, the first of three touchdown catches for the senior on the day.

Then Carlmont came roaring back, hitting the Knights with a rushing score from Daniel Mattioli then a TD pass from Dunne to Chopoff to tie it, followed by second-quarter rushing scores by Akshay Prasad and Christian Booth.

“In the locker room, we were just like: ‘Wow! We just gave up 27 unanswered,’” Freehill said. “But we came out in the second half ready to go to war.”

After a 5-yard scoring run by Wynn to start the second half, Freehill connected with Enright for a 15-yard TD to give the Knights a 28-27 advantage with 5:39 to go in the third quarter. That lead would last for just over three minutes when Carlmont swung back ahead 33-28.

Then Wynn’s heroics on the Menlo fake punt set up three Freehill scores within seven minutes time — a 5-yard rollout toss to Forese at the back of the end zone to give the Knights the lead; another rollout with Forese shaking a defender on a scramble drill for a 3-yard Freehill scoring pass; and a 2-yard QB sneak by Freehill with 2:07 remaining in regulation to all but seal the victory.

Yes, with Freehill going the distance, it was a marked difference from last season when he departed in the second quarter due to a concussion. Not that he didn’t take some licks this time around. There were two snaps from scrimmage Freehill didn’t take in the game, both because his helmet was knocked off on the plays prior.

“He peeled himself off the grass quite a few times and did great job of extending plays and extending drives,” Smith said. “That really helped up quite a bit.”

A two-sport athlete, Freehill has one other thing in common with Menlo’s flag football team. Both starting quarterbacks on campus, including flag football sophomore Ava Allen, play varsity baseball for the Knights. Allen earned a spot on the varsity baseball team last season as a freshman.

As for Freehill, baseball looks to be his ticket to the next level. The junior verbally committed Aug. 29 to play NCAA Division baseball in the Ivy League ranks at Columbia University.