COCONUT CREEK — When the proverbial fireworks finally died down, Atlantic football players and coaches soaked in one of their most dramatic games of the season, a 33-30 comeback over district rival Coconut Creek.
Nursing a three-point lead, Atlantic forced and recovered a fumble at their own 4-yard line to make sure their roller-coaster ride of a game ended with the Eagles in the driver seat for the district championship.
James Jones scored and set up two other touchdowns with massive catches in a back and forth affair that featured Coconut Creek mounting a 23-14 lead before the Eagles clawed their way back into the contest.
“It was great,” quarterback Pedro Martinez said of his connection with Jones on Friday night. “We were on another level tonight. There’s never been this good of a connection, and it’s getting better and better every week.”
The senior receiver finished with five catches for 151 yards and a score while Martinez was 18-for-30 with 343 yards passing and four total touchdowns, including two that went to Mark Hanniford.
Jones made perhaps the play of the game on 4th-and-long, catching a deep pass down the far sideline, wrestling the ball away from the defender for the contested catch.
The catch gave the Eagles the ball at the one-yard line, which is when pandemonium broke loose. With no working scoreboard and the live clock being kept on the field, Atlantic players raced to the ball, and, as the official placed the ball on the field, assumed their positions and snapped.
Coconut Creek stopped the scrambled attempt to score before the halftime whistle, but the referees had made a mistake, placing the ball too early before the crew was set.
They convened, agreeing that the down should be replayed. This time, Atlantic’s line punched the ball across the plane for the score, sending the Eagles into the locker room with some much-needed momentum.
Of note, Dereion Darby saw the majority of snaps at running back in the second half for Atlantic, taking over for Omari St. Fort, who was said to be dealing with several cramps.
If Jones’ first-half highlight was the play of the game, his encore in the third quarter was a close second.
With Atlantic trailing 30-20, Jones slipped his coverage, caught a pass over the middle, and hustled all the way to the end zone to draw the Eagles back within one score.
“Pedro’s a young quarterback, just turned 16,” Murray said. “He’s playing some good ball right now and he’s going to the guy that he can trust and believe in. We’re just building strength and trust in each other right now.”
Coconut Creek struggled to stop Atlantic’s offense all night. The problem for the Eagles, though, was that they couldn’t come up with answer for the Cougars, either.
That is, until the final play of the third quarter.
Coconut Creek launched another methodical drive that chewed the majority of the third-quarter clock, up until they ran into a red-zone brick wall from Atlantic.
The Eagles put together four straight stops, with Horace Glenn Jr. coming in to upend a Cougars receiver for the Eagles’ first stop of the night.
What followed was yet another trend in the game – Jones racing downfield with the ball. The senior caught yet another crisp pass from Martinez and found nothing but green, taking the ball downfield to set up Hanniford for the score.
The touchdown gave Atlantic their first lead of the night with the heartbeat of the collective stadium feeding off the adrenaline.
Armed with a momentum shift that was nearly palpable, the Eagles defense doubled down with another stop and then forced a fumble at their own four yard line to preserve the victory.
Pedro Martinez passes with flying colors in first true test
Coconut Creek managed more points in the first half against Atlantic than any team this season has scored against the Eagles in a game.
A stroke of luck allowed Atlantic to score just before halftime, but the Eagles still trailed 23-20 at halftime, and young Pedro Martinez was tasked with overcoming a 23-14 deficit prior to that.
“We’d never been down at halftime,” Martinez said. “It’s a different feeling, but we need this for playoffs. This is playoff football right here. We showed we could do it.”
The sophomore has been able to largely activate cruise control alongside the dynamism of Omari St. Fort and a defense that has impressed.
The formula for success flipped on Friday night against Coconut Creek, as St. Fort saw very limited action in the second half due to cramps and the defense struggled to contain the Cougars.
Martinez responded to the call with flying colors, tossing three touchdown passes and using his legs to run a fourth score, driving the comeback bid and helping Atlantic not only keep pace with Coconut Creek, but surpass the Eagles’ district rival with his back to the wall.
At one point, the play-calling shifted for Atlantic, and the Eagles opened up the passing attack.
When asked if something changed to cause that, Martinez tried and failed to hide a grin.
“They couldn’t cover us,” he said. “That’s what we figured out. They couldn’t over us at all so we just kept taking our shots and it was working.”
When plays were needed, Martinez delivered. Friday night had to be quite the confidence boost for what this offense is capable of.
Penalties, defensive mistakes overcome, but food for the film room
Atlantic racked up 124 yards in penalties across both sides of the ball on Friday night, and many of those came via pass interference by the secondary.
The Eagles defense wasn’t dreadful and they found their moments late in the game when it was time to close things out, but there were some worrying signs as well.
“I’m happy with the win, and it build character, strength, and courage faith in each other,” Murray said of the comeback. “That’s something we can check on the film in the morning.”
Atlantic was often solid on first and second down, but they couldn’t get off the field, allowing multiple long gains despite favorable situations — Coconut Creek frustrated the Eagles by slipping out of multiple tackles and found uncanny success on the deep ball into the back corner of the end zone.
“We’ve got to get off the field, and the back end of the game, we were able to get them off the field when it counted,” Murray said.
Atlantic remains undefeated at 7-0 with Friday night’s win, and the Eagles are set to complete their district carousel next week on Oct 16 at 6:30 p.m. against Deerfield Beach with a district championship on the line.
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Atlantic football withstands upset bid from district rival Coconut Creek
Reporting by Alexander Peterman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
