Palo Alto hasn't had much luck against Menlo School recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Vikings will host the Knights at 7:00 p.m. Palo Alto has given up an average of 38.3 points per game this season, but Friday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
On Friday, Palo Alto took a blow against Wilcox, falling 42-13. While losing is never fun, the Vikings can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 522nd, while the Chargers are ranked 165th).
Although Palo Alto took the loss, they still got scores from Justin Fung and Alani Poutoa.
Palo Alto didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Clement Romanski and Nathan Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, Menlo School strolled into their game on Friday with a perfect record and they left with the same. They took their matchup with ease, bagging a 37-7 win over Menlo-Atherton. With the Knights ahead 23-0 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Menlo School had a senior duo take command as Jack Freehill threw for 184 yards and three TDs on only 14 passes and Trevor Van Der Pyl picked up 140 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Those 140 receiving yards set a new season-high mark for Van Der Pyl.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Menlo School proved: they limited Menlo-Atherton to a paltry 3.2 yards per carry. The Knights didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 5.9.
Menlo School's victory bumped their record up to 6-0. As for Palo Alto, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-6.
Palo Alto couldn't quite get it done against Menlo School when the teams last played back in November of 2024 as they fell 27-14. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Freehill, who threw for 168 yards and a pair of TDs on only 16 passes, and also punched in one score on the ground. Now that the Vikings know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
