Football Preview: Sacred Heart Prep Gators vs. Menlo-Atherton Bears
The Sacred Heart Prep Gators will face off against the Menlo-Atherton Bears at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Sacred Heart Prep's offense hasn't had much luck over their past three contests, but Saturday's match will give them a chance to turn things around.
Sacred Heart Prep is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Wilcox on Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Sacred Heart Prep took a blow against Wilcox, falling 35-7. The Gators were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 21-0.
Despite the loss, Sacred Heart Prep had strong showings from Maxime Morelle, who rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown, and Kyle Chai, who rushed for 40 yards. That's the most rushing yards Chai has posted since back in August.
Meanwhile, Menlo-Atherton strolled past Palo Alto with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 27-13. Given the Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 153rd, while the Vikings are ranked 322nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Menlo-Atherton got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Xander Eschelman out in front who threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns on perfect 7-for-7 passing. The team also got some help courtesy of Evaimalo Ama, who rushed for 87 yards and a touchdown.
Menlo-Atherton's defense stepped up as well, laying out Justin Fung. three times. Leading the way was Devin Hyde with two sacks. He also made seven total tackles, which is notable because Menlo-Atherton is undefeated when he posts at least three total tackles, but 1-2 otherwise.
Sacred Heart Prep's defeat dropped their record down to 3-5. As for Menlo-Atherton, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season.
Sacred Heart Prep didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Menlo-Atherton in their previous matchup back in October of 2023, but they still walked away with a 27-21 victory. Will Sacred Heart Prep repeat their success, or does Menlo-Atherton have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
