VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach High Fighting Indians may have lost, but they now have a plan of action to improve on over the summer for their first game against Sebastian River.
Vero hosted nationally ranked and 2013 defending class 7-A state champion William T. Dwyer high Friday night at the Citrus Bowl.
Vero Beach coach Lenny Jankowski said that bringing in one of the best teams in the state would be a good test. “We want to play talented teams during the Spring Game and during the regular season,” Jankowski said. “We want to know where we are as a team and this game will let us know where our strengths are and what we need to work on.” Jankowski also spoke about looking for the next generation of players. “We lost a lot of our offensive specialty players to graduation and we need to fill those spots.”
The rules of the Spring Game differ slightly from a regular season game in the area of special teams. Once a team decides to punt they must inform the other team. Also the defense does not rush during a punting situation. Once the ball has been punted and is caught or hits the field it’s a dead ball. On kickoffs the teams receive the kick but do not return it. The ball is placed on the receiving team’s 25 yard line.
In the first quarter Vero Beach recovered a high Dwyer snap and scored on their first offensive possession when Vero quarterback Carter Stanley completed a touchdown pass to wide receiver M.J. McGriff with 6:31 to go. Vero Beach put three more points on the board when kicker Aaron Kuh hit a 25 yard field goal and Vero led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter Dwyer put together a 65 yard touchdown drive that put the Panthers within three points of the Fighting Indians 10-7. After Vero threw an interception and both teams exchanged punts Dwyer drove 88 yards for their second touchdown of the quarter and led Vero 14-10 at the half.
Dwyer’s safety Steven Valezquez picked off a Carson Proctor pass and went the distance to add to the Panthers’ lead 21-10. Dwyer was also added a 31 yard field goal before the end of the third quarter which gave them a 24-10 advantage.
Vero Beach received the ensuing kickoff and Carter Stanley was able to find receiver Sean Harvey for a big gain but then Harvey was stripped by the Dwyer defense and recovered the ball 1st and 10 on the Vero 39 yard line. With 9:17 left in the game Dwyer scored again to extend their lead to 31-10. Vero Beach did not give up. The offense was able to put together a solid 75 yard scoring drive topped off by an EJ Mason touchdown run. That would be as close as the Fighting Indians would get to the Class 7-Astate champs 31-17.
Jankowski spoke to the team about improving over the summer. “We knew coming into tonight’s game that it wasn’t going to be easy,” Jankowski said. “But don’t hang your heads. I saw a lot of good things out there and you will get better. We have a good team just continue to work at it.”
The Fighting Indians open the 2014 season against County rival Sebastian River High Aug. 29.