Vero Beach High’s vaunted football team prepared to kick off its first season of the COVID-19 era Friday night at Billy Livings Field as several players returned from quarantine.
But the 7,000-seat Citrus Bowl won’t be packed with fired-up fans for the traditional “Friday Night Lights” festivities because of social distancing requirements, warned Schools Superintendent David Moore.
Instead, the crowd will be limited to 1,750 people with tickets going mainly to students and families of players, cheerleaders and marching band members, Moore said.
“It will not be the ‘Friday Night Lights’ that Vero Beach is used to,” Moore said. “We’re going to be using a plan where it’s only 25 percent of capacity.
“We will provide tickets to the families first,” Moore said last week. “We’re going to put the band on the field, so they’re away from everybody to continue to maximize social distancing.”
Ticket will be sold in advance of the game to eliminate lines at ticket windows, Moore said. Concession stands will offer grab-and-go snacks and drinks.
“We want to provide the season,” Moore said. “I think students are looking forward to it.”
A substantial number of football players were among 46 Vero Beach High students quarantined in late August after a student tested positive for COVID-19, school officials said.
As a result, the Fighting Indians’ game scheduled for Sept. 11 against another powerhouse program, Venice High School, was canceled.
Football players were among the VBHS students returning to class in person last week after two weeks of virtual schooling via computer while they were quarantined, Moore said.
“They’ll be able to come right back, get into the groove of things,” Moore said. “To this point, it has been relatively seamless, the coming and going.”
Football coach Lenny Jankowski’s methods for maintaining social distancing during practice routines could serve as a model for other teams, Moore said.
Overall, a total of 11 students have tested positive for COVID-19 in eight public schools in Indian River County, records show. A total of 189 students who came in close contact with the infected students have been quarantined, some of whom have now returned to school.
Two staff members have tested positive and a third was quarantined after coming in close contact with an infected student.
So far, none of the COVID-19 outbreaks has been serious enough to consider closing a school, Moore said.
“Right now, we’re very comfortable with what we’re doing,” Moore said. “We’ve been relatively lucky regarding the extent, or time students have been away.”
Timo Aracena, a Vero Beach High senior who plays shortstop on the Fighting Indians baseball team, said he planned to attend the home opener for the football team.
“I always go to the football games,” Aracena said.
“It’s exciting. I’m a senior, so I want to go one last time. Go Fighting Indians!”
The pandemic halted the spring baseball season, leaving the seniors to dream of what could have been.”
“I felt their pain when our season got cut short, so I know it hurts,” Aracena said.
Shane Fleming, also a senior, said he and his friends are surprised more students haven’t caught the virus.
“We all expected to be a bunch of cases in the first two weeks,” Fleming said. “I’m surprised more kids aren’t showing symptoms yet.”
