DELRAY BEACH – The Atlantic Eagles put together a complete game to down a talented Palm Beach Central squad.
After being routed 39-7 by Miami Central in kickoff Classic, Atlantic (1-0) came out in Week 1 looking to have a very promising season. The game would start off slow as it was a defensive battle with both teams trading three-and-outs.
Broncos five-star defensive back Akeem Dent had a chance to get Central going early but couldn’t reel in what could’ve been a potential pick-six early in the first quarter.
Atlantic’s defensive line gave Central fits early and often. The Eagles defensive line is poised to have a great season after getting their defensive leader DJ Wells back after missing the kickoff classic game. Henry Bryant III and Arkel Williams will be a lethal combination along the Eagles defensive line.
The Eagles defense would force a fumble after a vicious hit by senior linebacker Jalen Wring knocked the ball out and fellow defensive back Marquis Lymon would recover.
Atlantic’s offense would capitalize on the turnover and get the ball in Broncos territory. It wouldn’t be long before Antonio Gonzalez went on to score his first touchdown of the night with 7:45 left in the second quarter.
Wells would get a huge sack midway through the second quarter to ultimately force Central into a three-and-out.
The Eagles offense would get the ball down field and Gonzalez followed his blocks to score again with 4:19 left in the second quarter. With the touchdowns, he gave Atlantic a 14-0 lead going into halftime.
After a successful first half of running the ball, Atlantic looked poised to go up 21-0. But Dent made a thunderous hit to force a fumble and recover it for the Broncos with seven minutes left in the third quarter.
Central defensive back Gen’taris Oliver would intercept an Atlantic pass in the end zone to stop another promising drive late in the third quarter.
Palm Beach Central (0-1) would get in striking range throughout the fourth quarter, but the Atlantic defense played sideline to sideline. A muffed punt late in the fourth quarter by the Broncos would be recovered by the Eagles, which would seal the deal and give the home team a 14-0 victory.
“It feels great to score two touchdowns,” Gonzalez said. “I just got on my other teammates about not scoring. Hopefully they can put some points on the board next week.”
When asked if Atlantic was motivated by underdog status, Gonzalez stated: “100 percent. We knew we were the better team. We came out the better team tonight. We usually just let the doubters talk, but we’re just going to prove it on the field.”
Atlantic head coach T.J. Jackson was thrilled with his team’s performance, but didn’t seem to be impressed as they have some things to clean before taking on another tough opponent in Dwyer next week.
“It was a great game,” Jackson said. “We have to continue to get better. We have a long way to go. We’re asking a lot of our teams that has freshmen and sophomores on both sides of the ball.”
Jackson would comment on being an underdog and being predicted as losers.
“It’s part of sports,” he said. “Someone has to win and someone has to lose. Media has to predict, a and the fans have to predict. We never get wrapped up in that. We embrace the challenges ahead of us, and we just have to get better.”
Jackson would expand as he explained how he’s able to get his team going in the right direction.
“It starts with our school administration, who does a great job with instilling discipline into our athletes,” he said. “It carries over to the football field and the people in the community supporting us and getting involved. It’s just a big family effort we have here in Delray Beach.“
