MENAUL — Facing an aerial assault from Menaul freshman quarterback Jayseph Griego, Melrose defensive backs Zach Pack and Lane Draper certainly had their ups and downs in the first half of a game on Saturday. The whole second half was all good for the Buffaloes’ secondary as Melrose (2-3) pulled away for a 56-24 victory. Behind 328 yards rushing from senior Adam Hairgrove, the visiting Buffaloes shut out the Panthers in the third and fourth quarters to race away to a comfortable win. “He’s a horse,” Buffs coach Dickie Roybal said of Hairgrove. “He’s a strong kid.” At half, the Buffs led 30-24. Each team had scored four touchdowns, but the difference on the scoreboard was because Menaul failed on each conversion try while Melrose converted three of its four two-point attempts. Griego threw three TDs before intermission, twice to Drew Larkin and once to Max Wiebelhaus. But he was picked off by Pack to end Menaul’s first possession of the third quarter and the Buffs immediately capitalized with a 36-yard drive, culminating in a 4-yard run by Hairgrove. Griego had accounted for 228 passing yards for the day, but he also threw five interceptions — three to Draper and two to Pack. “We just kind of moved the safety back there to help over-the-top (attempts), and that was really the only adjustment that we made,” Roybal said. “It seemed to work. And we put a little more pressure on the quarterback.” Leading 38-24, Melrose got a 32-yard scoring jaunt by Hairgrove midway through the third period. At the beginning of the fourth, Hairgrove broke loose for a 55-yard touchdown to push the score to 50-24. “They’ve improved a lot,” Hairgrove said of the Panthers. “They’ve got a big team. “With us, we’ve only got 12 guys. It’s hard to keep fresh, but we push the sled a mile-and-a-half every morning. You’ve got to condition like that when you don’t have numbers.” The game was part of a three-contest showcase for 8-man football, preceded by Floyd’s 50-0 drubbing of Pine Hill and followed by a clash between Springer and Reserve. At the same event last year, Menaul was pounded 80-0 by Melrose. “If you look at all the games we’ve played, the third quarter we’ve been terrible,” Menaul coach Jeff Strohecker said. “If I only saw the first half, I’d say we played pretty well. “Once we play a full game, it’s a whole different story, but we need to play a full game.”