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 coach Todd Smith noted his team’s precarious injury situation to the Bay Area News Group after the Knights’ 28-0 loss against Los Gatos on Saturday. Menlo had 24 of its 26 players available against Los Gatos.

Smith didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday but addressed the depth issue Saturday.

“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.

“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.”

Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said he accepted Menlo’s decision to forfeit the game.

“When the coach explained the reasons, I understood,” Rosa said. “Because he has a thin roster, and you get four or five guys out, that’s really eight or 10 positions. So it’s tough for him. I trust him. He’s a good coach.”

Rosa said he found out about the forfeit officially on Monday afternoon before practice, but Smith had apprised him of the possibility on Sunday.

“He wouldn’t do it unless he absolutely had to,” Rosa said. “It’s never good to miss a game, but there’s nothing you can do about it. So we just gotta try to make the best out of the week and then get ready for next week.”

The matchup with Menlo was Wilcox’s final home game of the season and slated to serve as the Chargers’ senior night.

“That was right away what they were upset about,” Rosa said of his seniors.

Rosa said Wilcox will plan to honor its seniors as previously scheduled after Friday’s junior varsity game due to the uncertainty surrounding a potential home playoff game or moving the celebration to the Chargers’ road game next week against Menlo-Atherton.

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.