Menlo falls to Palma

With Palma leading 6-0 at halftime by virtue of two first-half field goals by sophomore Gabe Nale, the Knights came out swinging after the break. A sack by senior defensive end Cooper Stewart, on the fourth play of the second half, was followed by an errant pass by Chieftains quarterback Grant Sergent. The offline throw sailed right into the hands of Menlo linebacker Dillon Grady, who returned it 65 yards for a game-tying pick-6.

“I feel like that could have been a turning point,” Grady said. “But we came up with a lot of little injuries.”

A lot of little injuries and a massive little penalty on the ensuing point-after try.

Menlo never led in the game, but appeared to take a 7-6 lead when Grady’s PAT kick split the uprights. A yellow flag intervened, however, and Menlo’s kick holder Aidan Israelski was penalized for an equipment infraction for not wearing his mouth guard. The Knights were forced to kick again, this time from five yards back, and Grady’s PAT try was blocked by Palma junior Mateo Martinez.

Israelski said he didn’t remember if he was wearing his mouth guard.

“I don’t know,” Israelski said. “When I’m going in football, that’s the last thing I think about.”

It was a day of highs and lows for Israelski, who in the first half rushed seven times for 42 yards. He missed the third quarter, however, with a re-aggravated ankle injury that caused him to miss Menlo’s opener three weeks previous.

Still, tied 6-6, Menlo’s defense was putting forth an inspired performance. The Chieftains managed just 108 first-half yards, while the Knights’ defensive line hammered Sergent for three sacks in the half, and four overall.

“They did a great job,” Menlo head coach Mark Newton said. “They got a little tired at the end.”

And the equipment penalty seemed to put the kibosh on the Knights’ special teams.

After Menlo tied it, the defensive effort continued into Palma’s ensuing possession. Palma managed to pick up just its third first-down of the game punt when the Knights missed an assignment, and no one dropped back to receive the punt. The result was a picturesque cover of Martinez’s punt, with senior Nathan Leavitt downing it at the Menlo 2-yard line.

Palma’s defense tightened up, especially in the secondary, as consecutive pass attempts by Menlo quarterback Emilio Simbeck — both passes being fairly accurate — were broken up in tight coverage. This, with Menlo getting flagged for a false start and being pushed back to its own 1, allowed no room for error when the Knights were forced to punt out of the back of the end zone.

Palma senior Liam Short exploited room around the edge though, rushing the punter untouched to block the punt, slapping it out of the end zone for a safety, giving the Chieftains an 8-6 lead.

Menlo’s defense produced another big stop, forcing a three-and-out. The pivotal play came on third-and-2 from the Palma 41 when defensive tackles Ty Corley and Mafi Latu stopped sophomore running back Anthony Villegas for a 1-yard gain. On fourth-and-1, Palma opted to punt. And again, disaster ensued for the Knights.

A high snap sailed over the head of Simbeck, also Menlo’s punter, and he could do nothing but corral and fall on it, forcing a turnover on downs at the Knights’ 3-yard line. One play is all it took for the Chieftains to pound it in on a 3-yard score from Villegas, giving them a 15-6 lead.

Menlo’s next drive went nowhere, forcing another punt. And again a bad snap resulted in favorable Palma field position. This time Simbeck chased down the errant snap and sprinted out of the pocket 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage to at least produce a pooch punt, but it gave Palma the ball at the Menlo 30.

Four minutes later, the Chieftains scored again on a Peter Powers 4-yard score, upping the lead to 22-6.

Menlo, though, refused to throw in the towel. Israelski reentered after missing the third quarter. And he and Simbeck connected for passes of 31, 8, 17 and 9 yards. The final one was a touchdown on a shuffle pass, with Israelski high-stepping over three defenders before stretching across the goal line for the score with 2:47 remaining in the game.

“Once I’m in the open field, I feel I’m going to get in the end zone every time,” Israelski said.

The Knights celebrated with an air of momentum, especially with the manner in which their defense had dominated to that point. Palma totaled just 222 yards of total offense in the game. But 64 of those yards came on the next play when Villegas broke through a big whole in the interior line — seeming to run right at the strength of Menlo’s “D” — and went the distance to all but end it.

“We run [that play] all the time,” Palma guard Nick Georgalos said. “We just pulled it together that play.”

Newton blamed the one-play lapse on a missed defensive assignment.

“We just missed a fit,” Newton said. “But our kids are playing great. They did a solid job overall.”

Villegas was a workhorse for Palma, carrying 24 times for 146 yards.

“He just goes and goes, and he never stops,” Georgalos said of the sophomore.

Menlo finished with 228 total yards of offense. Simbeck was 14-of—23 passing for 186 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The INT came on the first play from scrimmage in the game, setting up a 31-yard field goal from Nale.

Nale added another 31-yarder on the final play of the first half.

Israelski finished the day with 177 total yards, including 134 receiving on nine catches. And highlight the defense, senior defensive end JH Tevis racked up three more sacks, upping his season total to seven.

“Unfortunately [Villegas] broke that long one,” Israelski said. “Props to Palma. They’re a great team.”