VERO BEACH, Fla. — Late in the first quarter, Delray Beach (Fla.) Atlantic chewed up a ton of clock on a touchdown drive, tying the game against Vero Beach (Fla.) High at 7-7. At that point, Atlantic’s strategy to keep Notre Dame quarterback commit Champ Monds off the field was working. He had only attempted two passes at that point.
But from that point, it was all Vero Beach the rest of the first half. Monds, a 6-2.5, 220-pounder who’s listed as the No. 215 overall prospect and No. 17 signal-caller in Rivals’ 2027 rankings, led Vero Beach to a 31-7 lead at halftime and accounted for four touchdowns.
His rushing score gave the Fighting Indians a 13-7 lead, and then he tossed three touchdowns. On his third passing score of the night, Monds moved in the pocket to create space, evaded a pass rusher, stepped up in the pocket, all while keeping his eyes downfield and delivering a pinpoint strike between three defenders to find Marcus Melbourne in the end zone…