Menlo gains some revenge with Valpo Bowl win

● View all photos. Click on thumbnails to enlarge and view captions.

By Keith Peters

Sport Editor, Palo Alto Weekly

It was only a year ago that the Menlo School football team finished the season on a five-game losing streak. To make matters worse, the final two losses were to neighborhood rival Sacred Heart Prep.

Menlo’s seniors wanted to make sure their season didn’t end that way again, and it won’t — thanks to a 27-21 victory over the Gators in the seventh annual Valpo Bowl on Friday on the Knights’ field.

“It meant everything,” Menlo senior quarterback Danny Diekroeger said of the satisfying victory that left both teams 7-3 to end the regular season. “I’d had lost to Sacred Heart four times; never beaten them. Those two games (losses to SHP) last year definitely hurt. We’ve been thinking about that all year.”

And on Friday the Knights did something about it with one of their best defensive performances of the year to cap a season-ending four-game winning streak.

Menlo coach Mark Newton knew his team needed to win at least two of its final three games to qualify for the CCS playoffs. The Knights pretty much had a berth locked up even before they took the field Friday.

“We were in the playoffs even if we lost this game,” said Newton, who now holds a 5-2 series edge in the Valpo Bowl.

Sacred Heart Prep also had locked up a postseason berth by virtue of its second-place finish in the PAL Bay Division this season.

Thus, Friday’s game pretty much came down to bragging rights, pride and one-year ownership of the Valpo Bowl trophy.

Getting a diving touchdown reception from Clay Robbins with less than five minutes to play and a huge interception from Jordan Williams a few minutes later, Menlo took ownership of the trophy and celebrated wildly afterward on a cold, windy day that brought out crowds befitting a homecoming game.

In a contest that matched the top two offensive teams in San Mateo County, it was defense that saved the day for Menlo. After allowing 208 rushing yards on 41 carries in the first half, the Knights held the Gators to 90 yards on 18 carries after halftime. And when the Gators threatened to win the game in the final moments with the ball on the Menlo 36, it was Williams who picked off a pass to end that threat with just over two minutes to play.

Sacred Heart Prep still rushed for 298 yards on 59 carries, but Menlo’s balanced offense of 122 rushing yards and 256 passing yards by Danny Diekroeger made the difference. Diekroeger hooked up seven times with fellow senior Robbins, who finished with 176 receiving yards. His 49-yard TD reception in the third quarter tied the game at 21 and his nine-yard scoring reception with 4:11 to play proved to be the winner.

Beau Nichols led a surprising effective Menlo ground game with 80 yards on 18 carries while Diekroeger also was effective with the run. Chris Gaertner led SHP with 114 yards on 20 carries while fellow senior Matt Walter added 109 yards on 26 carries. Those two, however, were limited to a combined 62 yards in the second half.

“The defense did a phenomenal job stopping a great team,” said Newton.

Sacred Heart Prep came into the game averaging 417 yards per game on offense, but Menlo held the Gators to 347. SHP also did a good job of slowing down Menlo’s No. 1-rated offense in the county, which was averaging 424.7 yards per game. Menlo netted just 378, but its balance (122 rushing, 256 passing) kept the SHP defenders guessing.

“The plan was to be more balanced in this game,” Newton said. “We knew they would be concerned with Diekroeger, so we worked a lot on the run game this week in practice.”

But, as Newton noted, “Our defense won us that game.”

Newton singled out Eric Nelson, Mafileo Tupou, Brig Badger, Alipate Faletau and Nathan Rosenblum, among others, as the defensive leaders.

“It was really a group effort,” Newton said.

Robbin and Diekroeger also had big hands in the victory. After SHP had gone in front, 21-14 with 5:40 left in the third quarter on Victori Ojeda’s five-yard run, Menlo answered right back.

The Knights marched from their own 20, with Diekroeger hitting Tim Benton on a big 24-yard gain before throwing a swing pass to Robbins, who took it 49 yards to tie the game with 1:55 left in the quarter.

SHP then went on a nine-play march that ended in a punt. Three plays later, Diekroeger and Robbins hooked up on a 58-yard gain to the Gators’ 25. After some tough runs by Nichols and Diekroeger, Robbins caught another swing pass, cut behind a big block by Badger and dived into the end zone for the winning touchdowns.

A penalty on the PAT forced Diekroeger to miss from long range and Sacred Heart had one more chance to win. The Gators marched to the Menlo 36 before Williams picked off SHP quarterback John Geary, Menlo wound up running out the clock and giving its seniors their all-important victory.

“We couldn’t have ended it a better way,” said Diekroeger, who has thrown for 3,119 yards and 26 touchdowns this season.

Both teams could meet again in the postseason. They’ll find out their first-round CCS match-ups on Sunday.