Unbeaten Menlo School knocks out Half Moon Bay in CCS Division II football opener

Winning 11 straight is the best single-season run in Menlo’s history.

“It sounds surreal, it sounds amazing,” Menlo quarterback Sergio Beltran said. “Just hoping to keep this going.”

Beltran did his usual damage. The senior totaled 351 yards, including 11-for-18 passing for 201 yards and four touchdowns, along with 13 runs for 150 yards and two more TDs. Half Moon Bay senior quarterback Will Moffitt totaled 335 yards, going 17-for-29 passing with 186 yards and two interceptions, along with his trademark 25 carries for 149 yards and three touchdowns.

But with the game hanging in the balance late in the first half, the Menlo special teams took over.

“Our special teams have been huge this year,” Menlo punter Ross Muchnick said. “We’re kicking touchbacks, we’ve onsided — we recovered an onside kick today — all three phases, we say offense, defense and special teams, we work on it in practice. We just execute.”

The Knights led 28-14 with just under a minute to play in the half, but the Half Moon Bay defense came up with a critical stop. On third down at the Menlo 40, Cougars safety PJ Modena drilled Beltran for a 5-yard loss, forcing the Knights to punt. With HMB eager to get the ball back, Muchnick delivered an absolute boomer to allow the Knights’ downfield coverage to pin the Cougars at their own 36.

“That’s just what I’ve been doing … just trying to get off my punts, don’t get them blocked and then flip the field,” Muchnick said. “That’s what we do. … We just got stopped on a drive, we couldn’t really move the ball there. We had to pin them deep, and I just hit one high and our gunners got down there and made a play.”

While HMB (5-5) moved the ball with Moffitt completing passes of 27 and 25 yards to Modena, there simply wasn’t enough time to score as the second-quarter clock expired with the ball at the Menlo 14.

Then the Knights stunned the Cougars by returning the second-half kickoff for a score, with junior Ty Richardson blazing through the middle for an 88-yard touchdown to put Menlo up 35-14. It was a moment from which HMB never recovered.

“They pooched it, I got the ball, saw Carter Jung and Sergio Beltran, they gave me two really good blocks and opened up the lane,” Richardson said. “Just hit it. I’ve been waiting for the kickoff return for a touchdown for a long time, I got it, just thanks to the blocking though.”

Beltran had another remarkable day in the midst of a legendary season. His four touchdown passes bring him within one of the all-time, single-season CCS record set by Terra Nova’s Anthony Gordon in 2013 with 49.

But the first pass completion of the day came not from Beltran, and not even from Moffitt, but from Muchnick. After Menlo recovered a fumble on the game’s opening possession, the Knights’ drive stalled near midfield. But on fourth-and-5, head coach Todd Smith opted for some trickeration strategery with a fake punt by turning Muchnick loose for a 6-yard pass completion to Bob Enright to pick up a first down.

“It’s been working for us this year,” Enright said. “We worked on it a lot this week because we knew it was going to be a big play and it was going to come up early. And that’s a big momentum changer. So, Ross just did a great job, he got the ball and put it where I could make a play.”

Beltran then went to work, completing two passes for 13 yards each before finding the end zone. He initially connected with Jack Giesler for a 21-yard scoring pass but had it called back on a holding penalty. So, on the following play, Beltran went to a similar route at the back of the end zone for senior receiver Carter Jung and a 39-yard scoring pass to make it 7-0.

“It was a very big statement,” Beltran said of scoring on his Knights’ first possession. “Just being able … to stop them on defense and then being able to score the first possession, it meant a lot to set the tone for the rest of the game.”

HMB fired right back with a seven-play, 71-yard scoring drive, capped by a 27-yard touchdown run by Moffitt.

But Menlo countered with some shock and awe, scoring on its next three possessions. Beltran led the charge on a four-play, 66-yard scoring drive with a 10-yard pass to Jung, a 48-yard scramble into the red zone, and an 8-yard TD pass to Jung to make it 13-7.

Then the opportunistic Knights recovered an onside kick with Alec Jabal gathering the loose ball. Five plays later, Beltran was dashing into the end zone again on a 3-yard keeper and converted a 2-point conversion pass to Jung. After a HMB three-and-out, Menlo needed just two plays to score, with a 37-yard option pass from Jack Bianchi to Enright, followed by a 16-yard scoring strike from Beltran to Enright with 9:27 to go in the half.

But the Cougars clawed their way back into it with a tactical 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive. HMB converted two third-down tires, including a 15-yard keeper from Moffitt to the Menlo 3. The senior then blasted and stretched into the end zone for a 3-yard score to make it 28-14 with 2:17 left in the half.

“I just felt like we always have life,” HMB head coach Keith Holden said. “We can score points fast and, I’ve been around a lot of football, it’s never the end of the world. It’s only an opportunity to do something great. And that’s the way I looked at it. Obviously, it didn’t pan out like that.”

But after Menlo flipped the field with Muchnick’s punt, things went south for the Cougars.

“You can look at offense, you can look at defense, but we definitely got outplayed on special teams all over the place, gave them extra possessions” Holden said. “And that’s not the offense you want to give extra possessions to.”

Following Menlo’s second-half kickoff score, it took HMB 7 minutes, 29 seconds to score on an 11-yard Moffitt run. Menlo got the points back early in the fourth quarter on a 70-yard bomb from Beltran to Jung. 

HMB senior running back Emilio Villalobos later scored on a 1-yard blast with 2:58 to play, and the Cougars recovered the ensuing onside kick.

But by then it was too late. Menlo closed the door with an interception by junior Chris Liao.

The Cougars close their season with a 5-5 overall record but played a stacked non-league schedule. Their losses came to Salinas (8-1 overall, Gabilan Division champs); Serra (9-1, ranked No. 2 in CCS); and Los Gatos (10-1, De Anza League champs). HMB then opened Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division champion Menlo-Atherton with a 47-46 loss before winning four straight to close the regular season.

“It was purposeful,” Holden said of the strength of schedule. “We did it because in 2019 we ended up 10-0 and in [the CCS Division I playoffs]. So, we just said: Hey, we’ll play those Division I teams now and see how it goes. If we beat them, then we belong there. And if we don’t beat them, we won’t be there.”

The Knights now advance to the CCS Division II semifinals to face No. 1 San Benito Friday night in Hollister. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Division I

The No. 2 Serra Padres (9-1), one of four West Catholic Athletic League teams in the eight-team CCS Division I field, took down No. 7 Valley Christian 41-30 in Saturday’s postseason opener at Freitas Field. Serra now advances to host No. 3 Bellarmine this Saturday at 1 p.m.

Division IV

No. 3 Sacred Heart Prep (4-7) rolled to a 42-0 victory over No. 6 Alisal (4-6) in Saturday’s CCS opener at Palatella Field. The Gators advance to Friday’s Division IV semifinals, traveling to No. 2 Hillsdale for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Division V

No. 4 San Mateo (8-2) was eliminated with a 28-21 loss to No. 5 North Salinas (7-3) Saturday night at Maryann Johnson Memorial Stadium. The Bearcats led y scores of 14-6 and 21-20 but could not hold on. North Salinas now travels to No. 1 Aragon this Friday in a Division V semifinal showdown. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The original content of this article has been edited.