Menlo sacked by San Marin in Nor Cal football regionals

Only 18 players suited up for Menlo (8-6) in the program’s first-even Nor Cal appearance. Two of the team’s captains — senior tight end/middle linebacker Cort Halsey and senior two-way lineman Ralston Raphael — didn’t suit up due to injury. A third senior captain, running back Ty Richardson, was limited to just two carries due to injury.

“I wish those guys were with me,” said Robby Enright, Menlo’s senior wide receiver/defensive back who totaled seven catches for 100 yards, and scored two touchdowns, one on offense and another with a pick-6 on defense. “I was just hoping I could make some plays and we could get those guys back next week so that we could win a state championship game.”

But there was no avoiding San Marin’s focused pass rush. With Menlo’s backfield rushing the ball just six times, the Mustangs blitzed with abandon. San Marin sacked Knights quarterback Jake Bianchi eight times, including three sacks by senior defensive end Hayden Cordero.

“We did a great job with counter (offense) all year and we couldn’t run the ball (tonight),” Menlo head coach Todd Smith said. “The kids were just teeing off on Jake and they were just pass rushing all night, because that’s all we had.”

Despite San Marin (12-2) jumping out to a 26-0 lead by the middle of the third quarter, the Knights still managed to make up ground and turn it into a one-score game.

Bianchi gritted through an 11-for-30 passing line for 160 yards. Freshman backup quarterback Jake Freehill — one of several freshman callups who saw reps Saturday — completed two passes for 49 yards. Despite the Knights totaling just 167 yards of offense, they managed to surge late and outscore the Mustangs 21-3 over the final 16 minutes.

Menlo had already experienced one big postseason comeback, overcoming Live Oak in the Central Coast Section Division III semifinals after trailing 14-0 at halftime. And as the fourth quarter would down Saturday, it seemed like the Knights might pull off the comeback of the century.

“We had a comeback against Live Oak in the CCS second round, and I let myself slip into the thoughts of thinking the season was going to be over,” said Ari Krane, Menlo’s senior linebacker who moved into the middle linebacker spot in Halsey’s absence. “And at this halftime, I had none of those feelings because I knew all of my guys were still on board, and we were just going to fight until there was no more fighting to be done.”

Menlo got on the board by springing an eight-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a 12-yard scoring pass from Bianchi to Enright. San Marin answered with a 25-yard field goal by Ryan Rodas, his second field goal of the game, to start the fourth quarter.

Then after Menlo’s deflating turnover on downs — capped by a fourth-down sack by junior Matthew Giomi — the Knights got new life five plays later when Enright intercepted a pass by San Matin quarterback Jimmy Hughes and returned it 51 yards to the end zone to cut the deficit to 29-14.

“I just tried to read the QB’s eyes and I was just lucky enough to make a play on the ball,” Enright said. “And it was just wide open to the house. One thing I’m proud of is we never gave up. We had energy throughout the whole game. And I think in that moment especially, we realized we’re still in this even though there’s five minutes left. We still have a shot.”

Menlo made the most of its shot on the ensuing kickoff when junior Parker Brown recovered an onside kick at the Mustangs’ 46. A San Marin offside penalty on fourth-and-3 sustained the drive, and the Knights moved to the 1-yard line on a 33-yard pass to senior Eron Chen. Three plays later, Bianchi scored on a QB sneak to cut it to 29-21.

A second onside kick didn’t bounce Menlo’s way, as the ball skidded out of bounds near midfield. But a first-down stop by Menlo freshman Palmer Riley sparked a three-and-out, and the Knights took back possession off a punt at their own 20.

That’s where the comeback bid would end, however. Menlo threw four incomplete passes in a row, including on second down when Bianchi took a massive hit as he was releasing the ball. It was the punctuation of a punishing night for Bianchi at the hands of the Mustangs’ pass rush.

“He’s been tough all year,” Smith said. “He’s played this game six weeks with no backup quarterback. He’s taken every rep in practice. And he deserves a lot of credit. He hung in there until the end. I’m really proud of him.”

San Marin’s starting quarterback Dominic Ingrassia was 6-of-13 passing for 58 yards and two touchdowns — a 7-yarder on a short toss to Blake Hart on a jet sweep to cap a 12-play, 68-yard drive to open the game, and a 16-yard scoring pass to Ben Langford in the second quarter to make it 19-0. Ingrassia departed with an injury in the second half to make way for Hughes, who was 2-of-5 passing with a 30-yard touchdown strike to Matt Goodin to make it 26-0.

San Marin running back Charlie Singleton took 25 carries for 106 yards.

The Mustangs also scored on a 32-yard field goal by Rodas to make it 10-0. Then San Marin scored a safety when Jacob Pearce blocked a punt out of the back of the end zone to make it 12-0.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” San Marin head coach Dominic DiMare said. “We won back-to-back [North Coast Section] championships this year. Now we’re going to state back-to-back. It’s just a dream.”

Menlo, after winning its first CCS championship in program history the previous week, had to settle for moral victories in its Nor Cal debut. The Knights were forced not just to replace Halsey, Raphael and Richardson, but junior running back Willis Johnson also left the game with an injury.

Krane put forth quite the performance filling in at middle linebacker for Halsey, having never played the position until Friday during Menlo’s final practice before game day. The senior took over at outside linebacker earlier in the year but had to learn the middle linebacker spot on the fly after Halsey was injured making an impressive catch in the CCS championship game against Hollister in Salinas.

Then Krane, too, spent most of the week on the shelf due to illness. He didn’t rejoin the team until Friday.

“I’ve always done it with Cort, and I knew Cort wasn’t going to be able to play this week,” Krane said. “And I made the switch. And there was a point where even if I didn’t even know everything I was going to do, I was just going to lay it on the line every play for my team.”

San Marin moves on the CIF Division 4-A State Championship Bowl to face Granada Hills Charter this Saturday night.

The Knights finish the year having “recreated the standards that everybody from here on out is going to be judged,” Smith said.

That was the plan since day one of the 2022 season, Enright said.

“Our plan from day one was to get to state,” Enright said. “We didn’t know how we’d get there … but that was the goal from day one. And every week we had that in mind moving forward. So, this is what we were preparing for, and we weren’t able to capitalize on it this year. But we were praying for this opportunity all year.”