By Richard Paolinelli
MaxPreps.com
BURLINGAME - Menlo School has the pedigree on offense to be a power player in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division this season.
That the Knights appear to be just as strong on defense has their Bay Division opponents on edge.
Led by Jerry Rice Jr., yes he's the son of NFL legend Jerry Rice, Menlo has jumped out to a 3-1 start and is 1-1 in league action this year following a 24-0 victory over Burlingame Friday afternoon.
The Knights have piled up 118 points on offense while the defense has only allowed 46 so far. The only blemish on Menlo's record this year was a league-opening 21-14 loss last week to Terra Nova (Pacifica), a team that is 2-0 in league play this year.
In Friday's shutout win over the Panthers (1-3, 1-1) Menlo's defense dominated the game, limiting Burlingame to just 153 yards on offense, including a mere 24 in the second half, picked off three passes and recovered two fumbles.
Rice, who also plays at safety and accounted for one interception, racked up 89 yards on 14 carries on offense. Rice scored a touchdown on a two-yard run.
Quarterback Travis Boyce was 10-of-23 for 136 yards and atouchdown pass (66 yards) to R.J. Carver. Boyce collected the third Menlo touchdown on a 14-yard run in the second half.
In other key Central Coast Section games this weekend, Ryan Van Amburg intercepted a pass at the goal line with 44 seconds left on the clock to help St. Francis hold off Serra, 13-10, in West Catholic Athletic League action. Serra had declined to attempt a game-tying field goal and went for it on fourth-and-nine from the 19-yard line instead.
The loss dropped Serra to 3-2 on the season while St. Francis improved to 3-1-1 on the year in the league opener for both teams. Serra got two 100-yard rushing games from its running backs as Tiuke Tuipulotu had 129 yards on 16 carries and quarterback Cody Jackson finished with 105 yards on 15 carries.
In Pacifica, the Terra Nova Tigers improved to 2-0 in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division action and 2-2 overall with an impressive 24-13 win over Woodside (1-3, 0-1) on Friday. Richard Castillo led the way for Terra Nova with 208 yards on 26 carries and one touchdown.
In San Francisco, St. Ignatius barely stayed unbeaten at 4-0-1 by tying the game with 27 seconds left and escaping with a 21-21 tie against Valley Christian in the WCAL opener for both teams Saturday.
AbeWaziri connected with Roy Lang on a 17-yard pass with less than 30 seconds left to end the game with the deadlock, officially. By league rule, a tiebreaker was played and won by Valley Christian. But the tiebreaker only applies if the two teams tie in the standings to be used to break that tie and has no other bearing in the won-loss column for either team.
Water Polo
Brittney Boyd spent a couple of years watching the Half Moon Bay girl's water polo team as the team's scorekeeper. This year she's the onedoing the scoring.
Boyd's goal three minutes into sudden death overtime gave Half Moon Bay a 10-9 victory over Terra Nova. It was Boyd's second goal of the game while teammate Erin Dahl added three goals as Half Moon Bay improved to 3-1 on the season. Half Moon Bay goalie Rebecca Pike finished with 12 saves.Danielle Seyler scored four first-half goals for Terra Nova (1-3) on the way to a six-goal effort.
In boy's action, Sequoia (4-0) rolled to an easy 19-6 win over Hillsdale behind Eric Webb's eight-goal performance.
Volleyball
Menlo School's 15-25, 30-28, 25-15, 20-25, 15-5 win over Carlmont plunged the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division into a four-way tie for first place Thursday. Aragon, Carlmont, Menlo School and Woodside are all tied at 3-1 in league play this season. Menlo setter Molly Bagshaw led the way with 54 assists and 12 digs.
Golf
Emma Anders led Burlingame's girl's team (6-1) past Aragon (7-3) with a 195-198 win in a key Peninsula Athletic League dual meet on Thursday.
Tennis
Carlmont's Melissa Won captured a 5-7, 6-0, 6-1 singles win to clinch a 4-3 victory for Carlmont (4-2) over Burlingame (3-3).
