Preview: West Boca Raton Bulls vs. Atlantic Eagles
West Boca Raton has enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the Atlantic Eagles at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
West Boca Raton stacked a seventh blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They blew past Olympic Heights 40-0 at home. Given West Boca Raton's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida football rankings (they are ranked 119th, while Olympic Heights is ranked 433rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
West Boca Raton found their leader in underclassman Mason Mallory, who threw for 237 yards and three touchdowns on only 15 passes. West Boca Raton also got help from Branden Hoch who showed off his sure hands for 86 receiving yards.
Meanwhile, Atlantic had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 20.5 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. They strolled past Santaluces with points to spare, taking the game 44-28. Atlantic pushed the score to 36-7 by the end of the third, a deficit Santaluces cut but never quite recovered from.
Among those leading the charge was Lincoln Graf, who threw for 159 yards and three touchdowns, and also punched in two touchdowns on the ground. Jadarius Patterson was another key contributor, gaining 79 total yards and two touchdowns.
Another reason for the win was Atlantic's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for six sacks. In that department, Marlon Huff was the leader with two sacks.
West Boca Raton has yet to lose a matchup at home this season, leaving them with a 8-2 record. That said, the team wasn't facing the toughest opposition over that stretch, as it included 1-9 Port St. Lucie and 2-8 Olympic Heights (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 30% over those games). As for Atlantic, their win bumped their record up to 9-1.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's matchup: West Boca Raton has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 177.2 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Atlantic, though, as they've been averaging only 79.1 per game. How will Atlantic fare against such a dominant running game? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
West Boca Raton came up short against Atlantic in their previous meeting back in October of 2020, falling 12-0. Can West Boca Raton avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
