Menlo falls to Wilcox in Central Coast Section title game

Menlo School’s dream football season ended on a bit of a nightmare Saturday, a 54-20 loss to Willcox in the Central Coast Section Division II championship game at Westmont High.

Menlo went into the game 12-0, but were physically dominated by a Wilcox team that started the season 1-4 against very difficult competition, but won its eighth in a row and captured its first CCS title since 1997.

Menlo is 16-2 since Todd Smith took over as head coach prior to the 2020 season.

“I’m disappointed by the way we played, but I couldn’t be more proud of the kids,” Smith said. “I don’t feel like 16-2 right now.”

Sergio Beltran added one more touchdown pass to his CCS season record he had already set, to finish with 52. He also ran for a touchdown, but was under fierce pressure for most of the game. He completed 21 of 43 passes for 278 yards and carried 21 times for 60 yards, but was sacked five times.

He drove Menlo for a touchdown on the first possession of the game, hitting Robby Enright for a 19-yard touchdown. But a bad snap on the point-after left the score at 6-0.

That was only the first bad snap for Menlo. Twice the ball was snapped over the head of punter Ross Muchnick, once for a 30-yard loss. On the other occasion he managed to get a punt off under heavy pressure from his own end zone, resulting in a short field for Wilcox and another quick score.

Menlo’s first-quarter lead didn’t last long as Luther Glenn went 61 yards for a touchdown on Wilcox’s first play of the game and the Chargers took a 7-6 lead.

Glenn, a physical, hard-running and fast running back the likes of which Menlo hadn’t come up against before, finished with 16 carries for 237 yards and five touchdowns, going over the 2,000-yard mark on the season.

“He’s definitely the best we’ve seen,” defensive lineman Ralston Raphael said. “He just doesn’t fall down.”

Wilcox scored two more touchdowns before the first quarter was over to extend its lead to 20-6.

Menlo responded with an 80-yard, 11-play drive that concluded on a 3-yard touchdown run by Jack Giesler, to make it 20-12. But Wilcox ripped off three more touchdowns in the second quarter to make it six touchdowns on six first-half possessions and a 41-12 lead at halftime.

Menlo forced a punt to start the third quarter and drove 82 yards with Beltran scoring from the 2. His pass to Carter Jung for the two-point conversion brought the Knights within 41-20.

But that was the last gasp. Glenn scored on runs of 33 and 18 yards to extend the Wilcox lead to 54-20 before the third quarter was over.

Menlo, which thoroughly dominated PAL Ocean Division play, building such big leads that a running clock was employed in a half dozen or so of its games, was on the other side this time as a running clock went into effect in the fourth quarter and Wilcox put its subs in, so as not to run up the score.

Wilcox was so successful on the ground, rushing for 357 yards, that it attempted only two passes, completing both for 22 yards.

“They were certainly the most physical team we’ve played,” Smith said. “The game just got away from us.”

Enright led Menlo’s receivers with seven catches for 130 yards. Sam Scola had six receptions for 59 yards and Carter Jung five for 67 yards.

“We left it all out there,” Jung said. “It just didn’t go our way.”

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