Menlo School has forfeited its football game on Friday against Wilcox, the Atherton school announced on Tuesday morning.
“A combination of injuries and illness has left the Knights with too few healthy players to compete safely,” Menlo School sports information director Pam McKenney said in a release.
“The coaching staff and school administration prioritize the health and well-being of our student-athletes. This decision allows our players the necessary time to recover fully before returning to the field. The JV game will be played Friday. Our sincere appreciation goes to our community and to the Wilcox High School varsity football program for their support and understanding.”
Menlo School was projected to win the game, according to HSRatings.com’s computer. The popular high school prognostication site gave the Knights — ranked 12th in the latest Bay Area News Group Top 25 — a 61% chance to beat No. 18 Wilcox and projected they would do so by a score of 26-21.
But a computer algorithm can’t capture the state of a team’s health. Menlo School coach Todd Smith noted his team’s precarious injury situation to the Bay Area News Group after his team’s 28-0 loss against Los Gatos on Saturday. The Knights had 24 of their 26 players available against Los Gatos.
“What I want from the kids is for them to be healthy and enjoy their experience and not have to feel like they’re going through hell at the end of the season because of the way our program is built,” Smith said. “I don’t want them to feel like they’re getting punished for playing good football.
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“We need more kids to play football here, and we need to help those kids so that our kids can play healthy and so they can walk to their families and hug them afterwards and feel good not just about winning or losing, but about being healthy and not being completely exhausted.”
The forfeit is believed to be the first in the Peninsula Athletic League’s top division (Bay) since Aragon called off its matchup with Menlo-Atherton in 2019, citing player safety and inexperience.
It is the first in the division since the PAL and Santa Clara Valley Athletic League merged for football in 2023.
For Menlo, the forfeit drops its record to 7-2 overall and 2-2 in the Bay.
Wilcox is 6-3, 3-1.
Check back for updates to this story.
