San Mateo County high school sports roundup

Quarterback Sergio Beltran threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as Menlo topped Hillsdale in a season-opening Saturday matinee.

Beltran hooked up with Chris d’Alencon for 7 yards and connected with Carter Jung for a 12-yard strike to give Menlo at 13-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Hillsdale defense buckled down the rest of the half and trailed 13-0 at halftime. Justin Creamer gave Menlo a 20-0 lead on a 78-yard pick-6, but Hillsdale got the score back when Si'i Tengei ripped off a 66-yard touchdown run. Menlo’s Ross Muchnick kicked a 30-yard field goal and Beltran wrapped up the scoring with a 9-yard run.

Sacred Heart Prep 17, Burlingame 0

Will Mackie forced a fumble, Carter Shaw recovered a loose ball and Alex Tonas picked off a fourth-quarter pass as the Gators’ defense led the charge in a shutout win over the Panthers Saturday afternoon.

SHP quarterback Teddy Purcell completed 23 of 30 passes for 253 yards and threw a 20-yard score to Paul Barton, who finished with 7 catches for 96 yards.

Andrew Latu paced the Gators ground attack, carrying the ball 12 times for 40 yards and a 2-yard score.

Serra 33, Valley Christian 26

The battle between the two top-ranked teams in the Central Coast Section lived up to its billing as the Padres held on for the season-opening victory in San Jose Friday night.

With the Warriors driving for a potential game-tying score, the Padres got a strip-sack from Fynn Williams and recovery by Sioeli Helu with under a minute to play to seal the win.

Quarterback Dominique Lampkin threw four touchdown passes and receiver Hassan Mahasin hauled in a 22-yard scoring pass and later scored on a 60-yard sweep. It was an 11-yard run from Petelo Richards-Gi that gave Serra the game-winning score.

Sacramento high school football player

dies after collapsing during game

SACRAMENTO — A high school football player who collapsed during a game died Saturday, the Sacramento City Unified School District said.

The Kennedy High School player, identified as Emmanuel Antwi, fell to the ground during the game about 8:20 p.m. Friday, KCRA TV reported. Medical personnel took him to a nearby hospital.

School officials canceled the game and cleared out the limited fans in attendance at the stadium.

“Today we learned that Emmanuel Antwi, a John F. Kennedy senior athlete, died after a medical emergency during Friday night’s football game,” the district said in a statement Saturday. “We do not have many details to share beyond this. Our hearts go out to Emmanuel’s family and our school community during this difficult time. We ask all to give them privacy and time for healing and comfort as they grieve,” the district continued.

In a letter sent out to families, Kennedy High School says school counselors and mental health support staff will be available for a virtual drop-in grieving space through Zoom beginning Monday morning. KCRA also reported that the school said counselors will also be available in-person once football practice resumes.

Cross country

Menlo closes season with wins over SHP, Castilleja

Justin Pretre won the boys’ race and Natalie Westermann finished second as the Knights beat their West Bay Athletic League rivals.

Pretre, who covered the course in a time of 12:48.47, led a Menlo squad that took 3 of the top-4 finishes. Only a third-place effort from SHP’s Finn Roblin prevented the Knights’ sweep. Roblin posted a time of 14:14.03.

Menlo’s Aiden Deffner was second in time of 13:35.65 and Alex Boesch took fourth with a 14:23.03.

In the girls’ race, Castilleja’s Olivia Stinson was dominant in winning the race in a time of 16:40.09. Westermann came in with a time of 18:03.09.

Boys’ water polo

Menlo School 17, St. Francis 10

Zayd Mahmoud finished with 9 saves as the Menlo goaltender, but he also jumped started the Knights’ offense with four assists as they beat fellow CCS power St. Francis as Menlo built a 14-5 lead after three periods.

Tommy Keisling had a strong overall game for the Knights, scoring five goals, five steals and three assists. Connor MacMitchell also found the back of the net five times. Ethan Babel added three helpers for Menlo as well.

The win gives the Knights an undefeated 4-0 record on the year as they head into Wednesday’s showdown against rival and national power Sacred Heart Prep.

Swimming

Menlo-Atherton sweeps Half Moon Bay

The Bears’ boys’ and girls’ teams swam off with wins over the Cougars Friday.

Marygrace de la Cruz won a pair of individual races and then anchored the 200 free relay for M-A. She dominated the 50 and 100 free race. Her time of 26.36 was more than a second faster than the runner-up and her time of 57.69 was nearly three seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

On the boys’ side, M-A’s Gabe Montoya posted a winning time of 2:15.55 in the 200 individual medley and was a member of the Bears’ 200 medley relay winning team as well.

San Mateo girls take down Burlingame

Parker Del Balso and Emily Chinn won four races each two individual and a pair of relays — to lead the Bearcats to the win over the rival Panthers Friday.

Del Balso opened by swimming the leadoff leg of the San Mateo’s win in the 200 medley relay and closed her day with a win in the 200 free relay. Del Balso also won the 200 IM and 100 free.

Chinn was also a member of the 200 medley and 200 free relays, while adding wins in the 50 free and 100 breast. Hayden Cutler won the 100 back for San Mateo and also swam on the relay wins as well.

Girls’ tennis

Sacred Heart Prep 4, Crystal Springs 3

The Gators swept all four singles matches to beat the Gryphons in a WBAL match Friday.

Natalie Dias was strong at No.1 singles for the Gators, posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Lillian Lynch won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, Sara Quinlin was a 6-3, 6-0 winner at No. 3 and Elsie Ragatz rounded out the sweep 7-5, 6-1 at No. 4.

Crystal Springs won the three doubles matches. Rhea Dhallah and Amanda Lo posted a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles. The Gryphons’ No. 2 tandem of Maya Xu and Abigail Caine won their first set in a tiebreaker, 7-2, before cruising to a 6-1 win in the second to take the match. Kate Luedtke and Chloe Chan closed out the doubles sweep for Crystal, wining 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3.

College

Salinero wins conference award

Jacob Salinero, a 2018 Half Moon Bay graduate who spent two seasons playing basketball at Skyline before transferring to Sonoma State, was awarded the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Scholar honor for men’s basketball.

A kinesiology major, Salinero maintained a near-perfect grade point average during the 2019-2020 season. In 19 games, Salinero, a guard, shot 44% from the field, averaging 6.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

The CCAA did not participate in college athletics during the 2020-21 season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Editor's note: The name of Hillsdale's Si'i Tengei has been corrected