Atherton schools get ready to put it all on the line

This is a matchup more than a few people have been waiting for. Friday’s Sacred Heart Prep at Menlo-Atherton football game intrigues on multiple levels.

It’s a matchup between perhaps the two best teams in the Peninsula Athletic League’s Bay Division. The winner gets the upperhand in the race for the divisional title.

 

And of course whenever M-A and SHP meet up, it’s a contest between schools with Atherton mailing addresses. Local bragging rights are at stake. The players know each other. Many went to middle school or even elementary school together.

Talk about players knowing each other ... Raymond Price III, the starting quarterback last year as a sophomore at Sacred Heart Prep, is now playing for M-A and sharing time at quarterback with Matt MacLeod.

All that and then there’s the additional dimension of the two head coaches -- SHP’s Mark Grieb and M-A’s Steve Papin -- having a history that includes being teammates, members of the same offensive backfield, and even for a time co-offensive coordinators with the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League. So there’s not only background familiarity between the players, but also between the coaches.

SHP goes into the 7 p.m. game 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the PAL Bay, outscoring its first two divisional opponents by a combined 104-17. Defending state champion M-A, after a brutal three-game stretch against some big-time prep football heavyweights, is 3-3, 1-0.

“Their fans are sure to be energetic,’’ said Grieb, now in his third year as head coach. “That’s what high school football is all about. I’m looking forward to the experience. It will be fun to play in that kind of environment.’’

Last year M-A handed the Gators their only regular-season loss, and it wasn’t close. 30-0. SHP’s only other loss in an 11-2 season was in the Central Coast Section Open Division III championship game to Aptos, 35-34.

“I just give credit to them,’’ Grieb said. “What an outstanding team. In my time at Sacred Heart that was the best defensive front I’ve seen. Extremely difficult to go up against. We didn’t have much success throwing or running the ball.’’

It’s been an up and down start to the season for M-A, which has scored 144 points in its three wins (48.0 per game) and allowed 136 (41.3 per game) in its three losses. The Bears blew out Bellarmine 51-14 in their season opener, went through that three-game losing streak, then beat Arroyo Grande 46-13 and Terra Nova 47-23 the last two weeks.

“We got some guys back from injuries and got back in sync a little bit,’’ Papin said. “Getting Raymond Price back gives us another element in our offense.’’

MacLeod has thrown 10 touchdown passes in six games with only two interceptions. Price, who sat out the first four games before becoming eligible, has completed four passes in the two games he’s played with three having gone for touchdowns.

As far as how the two quarterbacks will be utilized:

“I really don’t have a plan. I’ll kind of go with the flow of the game,’’ Papin said. “We want to go up tempo at all times. So it depends on who’s going good and on what the defense is giving us. Like if they come out in a light box I’ll use Raymond, who is more of a runner.’’

Likewise at running back, Francisco Sanchez and Thomas Taufui are sharing playing time.

“It’s really not a 1 and a 2,’’ Papin said. “I like to give them both 12 or 13 carries.’’