In a disappointing end to an excellent season the Vero Beach High School Boys Lacrosse team lost to Jupiter 16-12 at the Regional Florida Lacrosse Final at Jupiter High School last week.
Jupiter opened the scoring and then the teams exchanged goals, leaving Jupiter ahead 8 to 7 at the halftime intermission. While Jupiter maintained its lead in the second half, Vero Beach responded with goals of its own making for a close, exciting game.
The Indians were led in scoring by Brandon Stokes and Tyler Martin with three goals each. Bennett O’Brien added two goals and the Indians got single goals from Austin Schepers, Kevin Heckman, Chris Britton and Jacob Coleman.
Indian players assisting on goals were Bennett O’Brien, Kevin Heckman, Cole O’Brien and Alexander Houk.
Goalie Bradford Heckman had eight saves for the Indians. Dalton Connelly had five ground balls, Jacob Coleman had six ground balls and Alexander Houk led the team with eight ground balls.
Vero Head Coach Rick McCarthy said Jupiter is a solid team with strong goal tending. In the game prior to the Regional Finals the coach admitted Jupiter had the upper hand throughout most of the game. This time around, both teams played well on defense and offense and the game’s outcome was in doubt until the very end.
This was Coach Kevin McCarthy’s first year as head coach of the VBHS Varsity Lacrosse team. Previous to coaching at Vero Coach McCarthy coached in New England and most recently was and Assistant Coach at Wesleyan University in Middletown Ct.
Coach McCarthy said he found a terrific lacrosse tradition in place when he arrived at Vero Beach High School, along with fine traditions in a number of other sports.
Vero players compete well at all the sports and receive great support from the community. The coach added that, in comparison to college coaching, there is much more teaching involved at the high school level. The coach said he’s seen solid development in the skill level of the Vero Beach school players even in just his first year as head coach.
The coach lauded his coaching staff for the 2015 season. John Cannon was the head coach of the JV and the bench coach of the Varsity. John was responsible for substituting players onto the field. The teams’ offensive coordinator for the Varsity was Anthony Ventresca. Anthony was part of the lacrosse program in the past rejoining the team in 2015. Nick Crutchley helped out with the varsity team on offense.
Vero’s district was the highest rated in the state of Florida this year, so competition was tough. Under those circumstances Coach McCarthy said that a 15-3 record, winning the district and playing the #2 team in the state in a very close game, are solid accomplishments. He said the team will be celebrating its accomplishments in 2015 while looking forward to the 2016 season.