ATHERTON — Andrew Latu is best recognized for making huge performs as a working again for the Sacred Coronary heart Prep offense.
However within the twentieth version of the Valpo Bowl, the rivalry sport between host Sacred Coronary heart Prep and their subsequent door neighbors from Menlo College simply down Valparaiso Avenue, it was Latu’s protection that stole the present within the Gators’ 34-7 rout of their rivals on Friday night time.
Early within the second quarter, with the Gators already up 20-0 however the Knights driving deep into Gator territory for the primary time all sport, Latu stepped in entrance of Menlo quarterback Jake Bianchi’s tried display screen move and caught it with one hand for an interception.
“I used to be like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I believed it was wonderful,” Sacred Coronary heart Prep coach Mark Grieb mentioned. “He’s a type of guys that’s only a particular participant, and he does it in each section of the sport.”
Latu mentioned he observed two vast receivers to his exterior and the offensive sort out leaning again, “so I simply caught my hand out and it caught to my glove.”
Menlo coach Todd Smith mentioned of the play, “It’s a backbreaker, it’s an actual huge backbreaker.”
Latu then raced down and away from each Menlo participant and would have scored a 69-yard landing himself. However with two touchdowns of his personal already on offense, Latu determined to flip the ball to fellow senior RJ Stephens.
“I used to be attempting to race him to the endzone. Then, he regarded again at me and was like, ‘Right here.’ I used to be like, ‘Oh my god,’” Stephens mentioned about getting the ball. “I didn’t really feel something. It was a second of bliss.”
It was Stephens’ first landing of his profession.
“That’s my canine down within the trenches,” Latu mentioned of Stephens. “That man, he’s wonderful. I needed to present him love one way or the other.”
Stephens added with an enormous smile, “I’ll take it. It’s a landing. I don’t care the way it got here. I don’t care. It’s a landing.”
Sacred Coronary heart Prep took it to Menlo proper out of the gate, with Latu choosing up 50 yards on the Gators’ first offensive play. He would rating on a 2-yard run 4 performs later, then added a 1-yard rating later within the first. Junior working again Anthony Noto added a 3rd first quarter rating when he burst by way of the Knights protection for a 28-yard landing, giving Sacred Coronary heart Prep a 20-0 lead after 1 / 4.
SHP’s Andrew Latu opens the scoring right here with a 2-yd TD run. He had a 50-yard run on SHP’s first play from scrimmage after the Gator protection compelled a 3&out.@SHPAthletics 7, @MenloKnights 0, early 1st.@DarrenSabedra@joseph_dycus@Jesus_Cano88@leftwich@GReeves23@JensenPhilpic.twitter.com/9C5ecksfwt
— Alex Simon (@AlexSimonSports) November 5, 2022
“Our offense is all the time attempting to show one thing,” Latu mentioned. “Our linemen, we normally get undersized guys, so we simply attempt to come out and hit ‘em within the mouth and attempt to make it a dogfight.”
Latu completed the night time with 14 carries for 81 yards and two touchdowns, plus the interception and a number of tackles for loss. Grieb mentioned he was “phenomenal” on the night time.
“For him on his Senior Evening, final Valpo Bowl, what an incredible night time to play like that,” Grieb mentioned.
The early onslaught allowed the Gators to actually benefit from the Senior Evening, which was performed underneath non permanent lights at Sacred Coronary heart Prep for the one and solely time of 2022. The Friday night time sport allowed Stanford head coach David Shaw to be in attendance for his son Carter earlier than Stanford performs Washington State at residence on Saturday.
And David acquired to see Carter have an enormous night time, with a primary half interception and a second half landing catch within the win. Carter mentioned he’s “actually pleased” that David might attend, which dad concurred with.
“I’m on the mercy of our schedule and his schedule, and [I’m] simply so excited to be right here on Senior Evening,” David Shaw mentioned. “To look at him play so arduous, get an interception and rating a landing. I’m simply ecstatic for him and the group going into the playoffs with some momentum.”
Menlo scored their lone landing within the fourth quarter, when Bianchi ran in a 4-yard rating after throwing the ball many of the method down the sector. The senior quarterback completed the day 16-for-27 passing for 163 yards with two interceptions and likewise ran it 9 instances for 46 yards and the landing.
The short-handed Knights entered Friday night time with solely 22 wholesome gamers and misplaced two extra to accidents through the sport, with the severity unknown on the time. Their backup working again Ty Richardson didn’t play on offense, as a substitute sticking solely to protection.
Additionally they misplaced senior Avery Romain, a beginning lineman on each side of the ball, within the first quarter after Romain was penalized twice for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“It was a language situation and so he’s going to must pay the worth,” Smith mentioned, although he added that the Knights shall be interesting the choice, partially as a result of Smith mentioned Romain instructed him he was directing the language used at a teammate.
Menlo (5-5, 2-3) shall be heading to the playoffs with the fourth automated qualifying spot out of the SCVAL/PAL Bay Division and is probably going headed for Division 3. However the greater situation for the Knights shall be discovering a strategy to keep as wholesome as potential, with so many gamers already out and numbers thinning.
“We simply must have extra responses, and we don’t have very many responses proper now,” Smith mentioned.
However for Sacred Coronary heart Prep, the one-point loss to Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral to open the season stays their lone blemish. They’ve gained 9 in a row since and have allowed a median of seven.67 factors per sport they usually’ll probably host a primary spherical sport in Division 1.
“It’s most likely not that usually that you just leap from Division 4 to Division 1,” Grieb mentioned. “I’m simply so pleased with what these guys have completed. They put a lot work in within the offseason. They care about soccer and like it.”
However earlier than that, even with the Bay Division crown clinched, there was the rivalry sport to handle. And for the seniors, avenging the loss to Menlo in final yr’s Valpo Bowl is the proper strategy to wrap up the common season.
“It means every little thing to us,” Carter Shaw mentioned. “Final yr, we took an unlucky loss to Menlo. However this yr, after our first loss, we had a very totally different mentality — totally different than the whole final yr, totally different than going into Week 1. We’ve been placing in a lot work.
“I really like the people who I play with. I'd not select to have performed with anybody else. I really like these guys.”
