VERO BEACH — Nick Madden set the Vero Beach High School single-game passing yardage record, throwing for 346 yards en route to leading Vero Beach to a 33-16 win over Port St. Lucie. The Fighting Indians rallied from a 9-7 deficit at half-time and scored 19 third-quarter points to take the lead for good.
Jeff Searcy’s 342-yard effort against Miami-Monsignor Pace in 1997 was the school’s old mark.
In just his first regular season game at Vero Beach, Madden’s record-breaking night included scoring strikes from 58 and 67 yards to Charlie Miller, and a 65-yard touchdown pass to Nate Pryor. Madden spread the ball around equally, completing four passes to Pryor for 90 yards, three to Rakeem Marcelle and Miller for 64 and 139 yards respectively, one pass to Jeremy Bell for 34 yards and one pass to Dentist Hall for nine yards.
“Nick hit the open receivers tonight and really stuck it right on their facemasks-that is kind of something that we preach,” said Vero Beach head coach Lenny Jankowski. “We feel like we’ve got enough weapons to spread the field, and he’s really doing that with the ball right now. Nick is very, very coachable, and he continues to get better.
“He is just a student of the game who lives, eats, and breathes football. I think he had a great game tonight.”
Madden found Miller on Vero Beach’s second play from scrimmage for a 67-yard touchdown to give the Fighting Indians a 7-0 lead after the Karson Dietrich extra-point kick at 6:35 in the first quarter. Port St. Lucie got on the scoreboard at 11:29 in the second quarter when Miller was gang-talked in the end zone for a safety on an end-around play.
Lyle Messam hit paydirt on a two-yard touchdown run with 3:08 to play in the first half, giving Port St. Lucie a 9-7 lead going into half-time. The second half would start much the same way as the first, when Madden threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Miller just 1:44 into the third quarter, and the kick gave the lead back to Vero Beach, 14-9, after a failed two-point conversion.
Port St. Lucie quarterback D.J. Juste (19 carries for 83 yards) put the Tigers back on top , 16-14, with a 7-yard touchdown run with 4:26 to play in the half. Vero Beach answered when Jason Pierre scored on a 5-yard touchdown run just three minutes later to put Vero Beach the lead for good, 22-14 (Dietrich’s kick was no good).
Vero Beach cornerback Dravious Wright intercepted a long Juste pass with under a minute remaining in the quarter, giving his team the ball back on its own 35. Madden found Pryor for a 65-yard scoring pass on the very next play, making the score 29-16 after the extra point.
Sean Paul, the other Vero Beach cornerback, scooped up a Port St. Lucie fumble at his own 26 and raced 74 yards, untouched, for an insurance touchdown and eventual extra point with 7:43 left to play in the game.
Both teams suffered various injuries in the contest, which the Tigers made a very physical affair by rushing the ball some 39 times. Much like Jensen Beach did in last week’s exhibition game, Port St. Lucie tried to control the clock with their running game.
The defense showed a vast improvement in the second half, holding the Tigers to just 80 yards of rushing on 20 carries. Defensive end Dwayne Hoilett’s 2.5 sacks and the aggressive play of linebacker Cole Ripple were keys to the defensive effort after half-time.
“I feel like we made improvements from the first to the second half,” Ripple said. “We made some alignment changes at half-time, and the defense started to fill the gaps better and that really helped us out. We had to finish out strong, and we want to do that every game.”
Vero Beach plays Martin County at home next week, who won 26-12 over South Fork tonight.
“We have a huge challenge ahead of us next week,” Jankowski said. “We’ll try to improve in all phases of the game in practice this week, and we’ll start studying the game film tomorrow.”
