James Jones had a legacy performance in guiding Atlantic to a barn-burner victory over Coconut Creek to win the district championship.
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 as district champions.
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.
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 has 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.
If that catch by Jones 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.
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 Pedro Martinez and found nothing but green, taking the ball downfield to set up Mark 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.
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 foe Coconut Creek
Category: General Sports
