ATHERTON — Los Gatos coach Mark Krail was confident in his team’s chances against Menlo School.
“They cannot stop you,” he said on the sideline at one point in the second half.
He was right. It took a while for the Wildcats to impose their will, but once they did, it was game over. Los Gatos, which led by a touchdown at the half, got rolling downhill in the second half and cruised to the finish, scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to salt away a 28-0 win.
“Fast and physical,” Krail told his team after the game. “That’s what we talked about getting on the bus, fast and physical. You guys were that today.”
Menlo (7-1, 2-1) hung around in the first two quarters, even threatening to tie the game late in the first half. But Jack Freehill’s pass into the corner of the end zone was intercepted by Hudson Schrader, snuffing out the Knights’ best chance to score with 2.1 seconds to play in the first half.
It was Schrader’s second pick of the half, a game-altering snag that set the tone for the Cats’ domination after the halftime break.
“I saw that the quarterback was looking over there before the play,” Schrader said. “I’ve watched a lot of film this week, and I knew his tendency is that he threw to that side. And then I jumped it when I saw he was just staring down the receiver.”
Los Gatos’ coaches were hoping for a shutout as the Cats pulled away late, and they got their wish thanks to a group that rotated in waves of players. They all upheld the standard that the coaches preached and gave the offense plenty of time to figure things out in the second half.
“We’re starting to play as a family,” Schrader said. “People know who we are. People know who our program is. And some people maybe think that we’re underdogs this year, but we’re the same program as always.”
That program is one that has Los Gatos (5-3, 3-0) poised to win the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division once again. What happens afterward will ultimately prove what this version of the Wildcats is capable of.
“Our first goal is to win our league, and that still is hot on the stove,” Krail said. “But this time of year, we just want to keep getting better. We know we’re going to be in the top bracket, and we’re going to play the best teams in our section, so we want to be playing our best football. If we play good, clean football, we can play with anybody.
Menlo, meanwhile, was left licking its wounds after taking several lumps against a Los Gatos squad with a much larger roster. That reality had Knights coach Todd Smith focusing on the immediate present and not a looming matchup with Wilcox next week.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our kids,” Smith said. “Our kids played their tails off. We didn’t execute, especially offensively, that’s pretty clear, but it doesn’t mean that they didn’t play extremely hard. Los Gatos runs through a lot of teams, and they weren’t running through us. It was a tight football game for a long time.”
Los Gatos’ vast array of playmakers gave the Wildcats plenty of scoring opportunities on Saturday. Quarterback Callum Schweitzer kept on a read option to run in the Cats’ first touchdown from 2 yards out, then Hayden Benjamin showcased exceptional contact balance on a 15-yard third-quarter score, breaking several tackles on his way to the end zone.
Max Thomas caught a 15-yard slant from Schweitzer to put Los Gatos up 21-0 in the fourth, and Devonte Troutt finished off the scoring with a 1-yard run later in the frame.
