VERO BEACH – Friday night was Vero Beach’s Homecoming and was a match-up of two teams that had not lost a district game. This was the same scene as last year.
Both teams came in last year without a district loss and it was Treasure Coast that pulled off the victory, winning the district crown. “We knew what we had to do going into this game,” Vero Beach Coach Gary Coggin said. “We knew they had a tough defense and so did we. This game was going to be all about field position.”
As expected it was a low scoring game. In the first half, neither team was able to move the ball. Vero Beach was held to just 52 yards of offense.
Treasure Coast had an opportunity to put some points on the scoreboard, but kicker Jonathan Quintero missed a 41-yard field goal. The first half ended 0-0.
Vero Beach was able to get on the board, when kicker Karson Dietrich hit a 32-yard field goal with 7:25 left in the third quarter. It looked as though the field goal would be enough.
But in the fourth quarter, Treasure Coast was able to put together a 42-yard scoring drive. The drive was capped off when quarterback Kyle Morris found the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown run, with just 1:49 left in the game.
Treasure Coast won 7-3.
“We had good focus going into the game,” Coach Coggin said. “We allowed some big gains on first down, leaving with short yardage second and third, but for the most part our defense played well. David Dixon and Larry Franklin made tackles all over the field. We just gave up that last drive.”
With the victory, Treasure Coast wins the District 7-6A title. Vero Beach still advances to the playoffs as the 7-6A runner-up due to a win by Centennial over Jupiter.
“That allows one of our goals,” the Indian coach said. “I’m proud our accomplishments.”
Vero Beach falls to 6-2 and 3-1 in the district.
Next week, Vero Beach plays host to Palm Bay High School at Billy Livings Field at the Citrus Bowl.
