LANTANA – Heading into their final regular season game against the Santaluces Chiefs, the Atlantic Eagles wanted to make a statement.

To keep a long story short, they did that.

From the opening snap, it was all Atlantic all the time, as it found a way to leave Santaluces with a commanding 49-7 road victory to finish off its regular season.

“It is a statement,” Atlantic head coach Jamael Stewart said. “It shows where they came from and where they are today, and just finishing. And that’s what it’s about.”

For Stewart, the win is two-fold for his players.

Not only is Santaluces and Atlantic a minor rivalry in Palm Beach County, but the game is also the culmination of Atlantic controlling its own destiny in the county.

“I think it’s good for our boys because this is really a little rivalry. They grew up with these guys and all year, they were talking,” Stewart explained. “We look at the rankings and we see Atlantic outside the Top 10, and our boys just talk about it when they come in. They knew Atlantic should’ve been in those rankings. So, every week we were looking at it, ‘we still got to play these teams that are ahead of us …’ So, we controlled our own destiny.”

If the Eagles wanted to control their own destiny, they certainly found a quick start in the game to help with that.

Before Santaluces could even blink, Atlantic jumped out to an early 20-point lead, with sophomore quarterback Lincoln Graf connecting with sophomore wide receiver Kamare Williams twice in the first quarter.

And just like that, it’s 20-0 @AHS_BALL. @GrafLincoln connects with @6goneslide again to take a commanding early lead.

20-0 Atlantic | 0:04 1Q@StewartJamael @EraPrep pic.twitter.com/wJbDt7iGer

— Kevin Fielder 🇫🇮 (@RivalsFielder) November 4, 2022

“We challenged him yesterday. Yesterday, the offense had a piss poor practice,” Stewart said of Graf. “Me and Lincoln were on the phone for about 30 minutes last night. It was probably close to midnight and he couldn’t sleep. So, I knew he was going to come in and take ownership of it.”

Graf certainly did take ownership of it.

From the opening snap, the sophomore quarterback showed the poise that most young quarterbacks don’t have, leading the offense down the field at every turn.

Graf finished the night with three touchdowns, connecting with junior wide receiver Jaden Williams later in the fourth quarter.

“I think I allowed my offense to do well,” Graf said. “I think my teammates around me really had good games and I was just a catalyst of it.”

The strong performance by Graf was complimented by a two-touchdown performance by junior running back Damarion Alberic, who opened up the scoring for Atlantic.

“A kid that never really wanted to play running back and was at receiver. We had an injury early on and we had to put him there in the Pahokee game,” Stewart said of Alberic. “Ever since then, he’s been rushing for over 100 yards in each game. And now he loves it.”

Even though Atlantic’s offense scored 42 points, its defense might have stolen the show.

Not only did they score points of their own – Karl Luccin ended the game with an interception for a touchdown – but the Eagles defense was all over a strong Chiefs offense and held them to nothing in the second half.

“As a whole defense, I feel like we bend but don’t break. That’s our motto,” senior defensive end Mi’Kel Hendrix said of the team’s defensive performance. “They got one touchdown but we didn’t let that phase us too much and we made sure they didn’t get another one.”

Hendrix was among the defensive players who were all over the stat sheet for Atlantic. Not only did he finish off a Santaluces drive with a sack on fourth down but all game, he was disruptive in the backfield.

“Every time it’s a passing down, I tell myself, ‘go get ‘em Bam,’” Hendrix said. “I see it in the quarterback’s eyes when it’s a passing down. They look at me and I look at them, and they look away instantly.”

Joining Hendrix’s strong performance was a terrific showing by the Atlantic secondary.

While the secondary might be young, with multiple underclassmen getting a lot of playing time, they found ways to close throwing windows for Santaluces and make life hard for the offense.

The strong showing by the secondary, and frankly the whole defense, might be a sigh of relief for Stewart and his coaching staff, as they seemed to struggle at times this season.

Those struggles, though, might have promoted a positive change for the unit.

“We have two seniors on our defense,” Stewart said. “I just told them, ‘Look, this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to put you guys in a position to make plays.’ We scaled back what we were doing on defense. We tried to do too much. We were coaching them and putting them on their potential instead of coaching them where they are. We had to go back to youth football and keep it basic.”

Those switches have seemingly paid off for Atlantic, as the defense has allowed just 21 points in its last four games, including two shutouts.

As a result, it seems like the defense, much like the whole team, is playing their best football at the right time – right before playoffs.

“There are still some things we have to clean up but we’re getting better every week, and that’s the goal,” Stewart said. “It’s not all about how you start. It’s all about how you finish.”

Atlantic (7-3) and Santaluces (8-2) have both clinched spots in the playoffs after winning their respective district championships. But they will have to wait for Sunday (Nov. 6; 11 a.m.) to find out who they are playing.

PHOTO CREDITS: Ronaldo Garcia