Sacred Heart Prep dethrones Menlo-Atherton, celebrates Bay Division title

ATHERTON — Since suffering a one-point loss in its season opener, the Sacred Heart Prep football team has passed test after test, week after week.

But what transpired Saturday was in a class all by itself, a 35-14 victory over neighbor and longtime nemesis Menlo-Atherton, a win that clinched the PAL/SCVAL Bay Division championship for the Gators (8-1, 4-0).

M-A had won the last four Bay Division titles and had knocked off Sacred Heart Prep the past seven seasons in a row.

“As a head coach I have never been on the winning side of a game against M-A,” Sacred Heart Prep coach Mark Grieb said. “Or as an assistant coach. This group, I’m so happy for them. Not just to end that losing streak and get us over the hump, but what it does for us in terms of the playoffs and as a statement about how good this team really is.”

Players from both teams grew up in close proximity to one another.

“It’s great, we have a big rivalry with them,” SHP running back Andrew Latu said. “I’ve played rugby with a lot of them. It’s really great to beat them and win a league championship.”

M-A (5-4, 3-2) scored first, getting a short field after the Gators turned over their first possession on downs at their own 42, and taking the lead on a 10-yard pass from Billy Johnson to Jayden Moss.

The score stayed 7-0 until Sacred Heart Prep grabbed hold of control with three touchdowns in the final 3:15 of the first half.

First, quarterback Mitchell Taylor scored on a 6-yard run to cap a 77-yard, 15-play drive.

Classic Sacred Heart Prep ball control.

“They do a good job in their system of going from A to B to C and getting four yards any time,” M-A coach Chris Saunders said.

But on their next possession, the Gators scored on a lightning strike as Taylor hit Carter Shaw on a short slant and Shaw broke it 72 yards untouched.

Then a bloop kickoff was recovered by SHP’s John Chung at the M-A 37, and six plays later Conrad Wilbur scored on a 2-yard run to make it 21-7 at halftime.

Taylor’s 17-yard run extended the lead to 28-7.

The Bears responded with a methodical drive of their own, going 51 yards in 14 plays with Sherrod Smith scoring from the 1.

But any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Chung stepped in front of a pass in the flat and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown.

“It feels amazing,” Chung said. “As soon as I caught it I saw green.”

The 14 points M-A scored were the most points the Gators have allowed in a game this season. In nine games they’ve given up all of 75 total points.

“I have so much faith in our defense,” Grieb said. “They just play so physical and tough. Our defense has definitely been the rock for us.”

Middle linebacker Shay O’Kelly went into the game with 101 tackles on the season, the most of anyone in the Central Coast Section reporting to MaxPreps.

“After the first quarter I moved to edge rusher, which was great getting to go against two Division I linemen (M-A’s Soane Faasolo and David Tangilanu),” O’Kelly said. “I hadn’t beat M-A at all, even JV as a freshman.”