Honor roll: The week’s best performances by San Mateo County high school athletes

“A lot of times on that play the ball ends up going to the tight end, so I’m kind of looking for the play to develop and watching the protection,” SHP head coach Mark Grieb said. “Then all of a sudden I see the ball in the air and for Carter to attack it in the air and finish the play like that, I thought that was a huge play to get us going early on.”

It was Shaw’s only catch of the day. He has had just two catches over the past two weeks, both for scores. Averaging 21.3 yards per catch through four games, he now has three touchdown hauls on the season.

“I wish I was able to find him more,” Taylor said. “The last two games, he’s got one target each game, and one touchdown each game. So, we’ve got to find a way to incorporate him more. He’s such a special guy.”

Taylor managed an incredible first-half passing clip Saturday. He completed six passes in the half, each going to a different receiver. The group of Shaw, Brandon Hsing, Luke Maxwell, Charlie Stuart, Andrew Rocha and running back Andrew Latu (tight end Tyler Wong also had a first-half reception on an option pass from Will Maxwell) has developed a competition for reps in practice, but Taylor said they don’t those friendly rivalries onto the field on game days.

“It mainly starts with Carter Shaw,” Taylor said. “He’s obviously the main guy. No one really messes with him. He makes plays in practice that nobody else can make. But, after that, everyone is competing. I’ll throw one ball to someone else, the next guy is up, and we just rotate it. … We’re all friends, we all love each other. And we know what the lineup is; we know who’s starting. But we know everybody is going to get a touch and get an opportunity to make a play.”

Quinn Giacomini and John Hanna, Carlmont football. Giacomini, a senior linebacker, helped lead a Scots’ defense that forced five turnovers in a Carlmont 17-7 win. Giacomini had five tackles during the game, including three sacks. Hanna, a senior running back went over the 150-yard mark for the fourth straight game, rushing for 181 yards on 28 carries.

PJ Modena, Half Moon Bay football. The senior running back had a monster game in the Cougars’ 37-30 win over Mountain View. Modena carried the ball 29 times for 289 yards, with three touchdowns. He averaged 9.8 yards per carry.

Emerson Rojas-Torres, San Mateo football. A senior linebacker, Rojas-Torres made his first appearance on offense and led the Bearcats to a 40-0 win over Gunn. Rojas-Torres rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

Cormac Mulloy, Menlo School boys’ water polo. The junior goaltender gave up four goals in the first quarter, but then shut down St. Francis. Mulloy gave up one goal in each of the final three periods, finishing with 13 saves in Menlo’s come-from-behind 13-7 WCAL win over the Lancers.

Ethan Bae, Sequoia boys’ cross country. The Ravens took first place at the PAL #1 meet in Half Moon Bay, paced by Bae’s individual first-place time of 12:17. Sequoia dominated with four runners finishing in the top six of the boys’ varsity race, including junior Rowan Henge, third place, 12:36; Jackson Bae, fifth , 12:47; and Luc Brennan, sixth, 12:53.

Choon Loo and Catherine Nightingale, Westmoor girls’ tennis. The Rams’ No. 3 doubles team won a three-set marathon over Mills. The first two sets went to tiebreakers: Loo and Nightingale took the first 7-5 in the tiebreak, while Mills tied the match with a 7-3 decision in a second-set tiebreak. Playing a third-set, super-tiebreak — first to 10 points, win by two. Not surprisingly, that was a marathon in and of itself as Loo and Nightingale prevailed 14-12.

Mateo Corona, Terra Nova football. Corona was limited to playing the first half of the Tigers’ 37-0 mauling of Cupertino, but the junior still managed to turn in a legendary performance. As a running back, linebacker and placekicker, Corona impacted all three phases of the game. On offense, he rushed eight times for 125 yards and two touchdowns. On defense, he turned in several key stops, including tackles for a loss on fourth down and on third down to stop two consecutive Cupertino drives. Then, on his final play of the night, Corona capped the first half by booting a 40-yard field goal.

Landon Pretre, Menlo School boys’ cross country. With the Menlo boys competing at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, one of the premier regional high school events in California, Pretre crushed it with a 10th place finish in the boys’ sweepstakes race, the top race among the five divisions Saturday in Irvine. The sophomore registered a time of 14 minutes, 6.7 seconds, the fourth best time of all California runners in the event, and the best from Northern California. Menlo placed 14th as a team, with Pretre’s older brother Justin taking 34th in the field of 229 runners, recording a time of 14:32.2.