VERO BEACH — The Fighting Indians entered Friday night’s contest undefeated and ranked 10th in the state according to the latest AP poll but West Boca must not have received the memo. Vero Beach handily beat West Boca 37-7 despite a rough start.
In the first quarter the Bulls recovered a Vero fumble, sacked quarterback Nick Madden on his own six yard line, and eventually scored first with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter.
Vero head coach Lenny Jankowski said that the ranking was not an issue.
“The guys knew about the ranking but we didn’t let it overshadow the work that we needed to do against West Boca,” the coach said.
Special teams shined once again for the Fighting Indians. Nate Pryor returned the Bull’s kickoff after their touchdown 78 yards and defensive back Sean Paul blocked a punt with 4:30 to go in the second quarter that was advanced inside the West Boca 10 to set up Dentist Hall’s touchdown run that knotted the game at 7.
With just over a minute left before the half, Nick Madden hooked up with receiver Charlie Miller who made an incredible catch over a Bull’s defender who was also called for pass interference.
It took less than thirty seconds for Madden to find Miller once again. This time in the end zone for 6 to finish off the drive and the half with a 14 – 7 lead.
Four minutes into the third quarter the Fighting Indians special teams unit came up big again when Sean Paul chased down a high snap on a Bull’s punt.
Madden went to work again completing a 9-yard touchdown pass to back up quarterback EJ Pryor. Vero landed the knockout punch with 1:48 to go in the third when Madden tossed a 5-yard pass to Charlie Miller who ran 80 yards for the biggest score of the night and a 28-7 lead.
The Bull’s luck went from bad to worse with barely a minute expired in the fourth quarter when the Bull’s punter had to decide between battling Vero’s Sean Paul once again for a poor snap or throw the ball out of the back of the end zone.
He took the safety and Vero added two more points to their lead.
With 10:39 to go in the game Madden found Miller streaking down the visitor sideline for a 50 yard completion that led to a Rakeem Marcelle touchdown catch and a 37-7 victory.
“Many people focus on our offense but our defense has been doing a tremendous job, coaches and players alike,” Coach Jankowski said.
Vero Beach is averaging just over 37 points per game while holding their opponents to 9 points on average. Vero’s defense has only given up 7 points in their last two games.
Vero (4-0) hosts an undefeated Ft. Pierce Central team Friday at Billy Livings Field at the Citrus Bowl.