Watch Lindbergh’s Matt Stuart, Cam Callen and Derrick Holt on the football field and the connection is obvious.

Stuart is the league’s leading passer, Callen and Holt are the league’s two leading receivers, and the Eagles are looking to cruise to the state playoffs for the fourth straight season.

There’s no denying that this is a good time for Lindbergh football, and the trio of juniors has its fingerprints all over the transformation.

“Knowing the guys for so long, you’ve got that connection,” Stuart said. “Like with Cam I know where he’s going to be no matter what. Derrick’s a great route runner, so he’s always in the right spot.”

Callen leads the Seamount with 31 receptions for 430 yards and five touchdowns. Holt is second with 18 receptions for 323 yards and four touchdowns. No other receiver in the league has more than 13 catches. Stuart leads the Seamount in passing touchdowns, passing yards and completions. Holt leads the league in kick scoring and field goals made.

Their combined effect on the offense has been stunning. Except for three defensive touchdowns in the Eagles’ opener against Marysville Getchell, Stuart, Callen or Holt have had a hand in every single point Lindbergh has scored this season. Whether it be from Stuart’s passing; Callen’s rushing, receiving and passing; or Holt’s receiving or kicking, these three have made the plays that count for Lindbergh’s offense.

Stuart, who stands 6-foot-5, took over as a freshman in 2009. He started at quarterback the second game of Lindbergh’s season (having never played junior football because he was too big) and never looked back.

“It was a lot on my shoulders at first,” Stuart said. “I was there in the huddle, but the team still belonged to the seniors that year. Last year I started to step into a leadership role more, now this year I feel like I am definitely one of the leaders of the team.”

Stuart passed for 24 touchdowns and made the second team all-Seamount that year as a freshman. He’s interested in playing both football and baseball at the college level. It just depends on the offers he gets in the next year or so.

Holt remembers when he would play kickball with Callen in first grade.

“We can rely on each other so much because we’ve been playing sports with each other since we were little,” he said.

Holt was the team’s kicker from the beginning of the season his freshman year. He’s made four of six attempts this year, with a long kick of 30, and even after so many kicks, he still gets the familiar nervousness.

“My first game I remember I missed my very first extra point,” Holt said. “Now I make sure to lock in. My heart starts pounding, but I’m just locked in on that football.”

Holt, who’s made a 58-yard field goal in practice, hopes to pursue football as far as he can take it, whether it be as a kicker or some other position.

For Callen, who’s scored rushing, receiving, passing and defensive touchdowns this season, it’s all about versatility.

“I try to be the best at everything I possibly can,” he said. “I work on everything I can, that’s my mindset. Whatever helps the team, I’ll do it.”

Callen comes in at quarterback occasionally in the team’s wildcat package, and Lindbergh coach Pat O’Grady said he’s also probably the league’s second-best kicker. He just happens to play behind the league’s best kicker.

Callen is also interested in both football and baseball and hopes to play one at the college level.

“Whatever comes to me,” he said. “I love baseball, I love football, but I love baseball a little more.”

The Eagles are currently riding a three-year streak of state tournament appearances, which accounts for three of the school’s four overall appearances. Lindbergh also won it’s only state game ever in 2009, 52-21 over Ferndale (the Eagles lost to Liberty 20-17 in triple overtime in the next round and the Patriots went on to the state title game).

The accomplishments have also come in league play. Kennedy Catholic has dominated the Seamount in recent years. Before Lindbergh beat the Lancers in 2009, Kennedy owned a 274-69 scoring advantage in the five previous match ups. Lindbergh went on to win the Seamount title in 2009, the first time the school had won a league championship since taking the NPSL title in 1984.

The Eagles finished the 2010 season in the first round of the state tournament against Anacortes. That Lindbergh team not only boasted Stuart, Callen and Holt, but seniors Bakari Davis (Seamount offensive back of the year) and Diondre Toms (Seamount defensive back of the year). It also held high expectations.

“We expected a lot out of that team,” Stuart said. “With that team we thought we could win it all. We fell apart at the wrong time.”

Walk by the Lindbergh football field in the offseason and you may just catch a glimpse of Stuart flinging passes to Callen, Holt and receiver Craig Yamaguchi working to make sure they don’t get that feeling again. So far, the work is paying off.