VERO BEACH – Fighting Indians quarterback Todd Fennell threw two TD passes and running back Jormonte Hunter added two TDs of own Friday night as Vero Beach High School rolled over Jupiter, 33-17.
Junior RB Antone Taylor opened the scoring with a 25-yard TD run early in the first quarter. Taylor and senior RB Stevie Wallace would combine for 130 yards rushing for the game. Vero Beach showed a balanced offense against Jupiter in the first half. VBHS Coach Gary Coggin kept the Warriors off-balance by having his quarterbacks throw the ball early. Alex Bryan and Todd Fennell combined for 40 yards passing in the first half, and it was enough to keep Jupiter from cheating up to the line of scrimmage.
Tight End Quincy Dudley was a big factor in the first quarter. He broke out on a 39-yard run and caught a 25-yard TD pass from Fennell to put the home team up 14-0.
VBHS senior offensive guard Trevonte’ Boles said this was precisely their game plan. “Any time you have a team that plays eight or nine guys in the box, you’ve got to test them with the pass a little bit,” said Boles. “Quincy has been working hard on catching passes in practice, and his hard work is finally showing out here. He’s going to be a big part of our offense the rest of the season.”
After gaining 156 yards rushing and leading 24-3, The Fighting Indians were on cruise control after halftime
The Warriors lost senior RB Willie Scott before the game due to disciplinary reasons, and rendered the visitors one-dimensional. “You don’t just replace a four-year contributor,” said Jupiter Coach Charlie Persson. “He averages something like 115 yards per game, so tonight we had to throw the ball 45 times to counter. We made some turnovers early, and they made us pay.”
Most of Jupiter’s scoring came from their talented sophomore QB, Tyler Cameron. He ran for one TD and tossed another one. Kicker Cody Parkey, ranked the No. 2 kicker in the country by Scout.com, drilled a 36-yard field goal in the second quarter and connected on both extra points to complete their scoring.
Hunter was given a break from being the workhorse tonight, but still managed 82 yards on 15 carries to go with his two scores (1- yard TD run and a 19-yard TD catch).
Coggin said the Warriors showed a lot of heart tonight, and every time he looked at the scoreboard he couldn’t believe it wasn’t a closer game. “We were lucky enough to have good field position tonight,” said Coggin. “We saw certain things that we felt we were able to attack. We were able to pick up the blitz, and our QB’s made quick reads.”
“This is a tough district. We’ve got one win under our belt, and we have Palm Beach Gardens next. We have two weeks to prepare for them and we’ll be studying film all week.”
