MARTIN COUNTY — The Fighting Indians felt pretty confident going into Friday night’s match up against Martin County but there were some questions that needed to be answered. Vero Beach senior wide receiver Nate Pryor cleaned out his football locker at Vero Beach last week and informed the team that he would be transferring to Sebastian River High School to play football.
Sources have said that Pryor was unhappy with the amount of times his number was called to receive the football in Vero’s first regular season game against Sebastian River. Enter senior Josh Sanderson.
Sanderson was selected as Pryor’s replacement in Vero’s high powered high flying offense.
“I was a little nervous at first but once I got that first catch under my belt I was pretty good.” Sanderson said.
Sanderson caught several passes from quarterback Dalton Stokes and looked as though he was Vero coach Lenny Jankowski’s first choice all along.
“Josh is a good player,” Jankowski said. “He is unselfish and he gives you everything he has.”
Sanderson caught several crucial passes from Stokes and racked up over 100 receiving yards in the game.
“I was really surprised when I heard I may have gone for 100 yards,” Sanderson said. It’s amazing. I’ve been working at it forever and now it’s finally coming to me.”
Vero Beach scored on their first possession of the game at the 7:56 mark with a 5 yard touchdown pass from Stokes to wide receiver Jamario Lambert. Martin County was able to put some points on the board on their second offensive series by eventually converting a fourth down fake punt into a 29 yard field goal with 3:10 to go in the first.
Vero scored again with 30 seconds left in the first when Stokes threw to junior wide receiver Jimmy Williamson who ran 11 yards for the touchdown and a 14-3 Vero lead.
Sanderson caught two big passes in the second quarter to set up two Vero scores. One touchdown was a one yard run by Dravious Wright with 4:45 to go in the second. The other was a nine yard pass from Stokes to Will Dawkins to close out the first half and give Vero a commanding 28-3 lead.
“The defense played another great game tonight,” Jankowski said. “I feel that we have a very solid defense with several kids who can play different positions.”
There was no greater proof to Coach Jankowski’s statement than the play of Jr. linebacker Adam Kuh. Kuh was asked to step up this week and play for injured defensive captain Cole Ripple. Ripple injured his left hand in last week’s game against Sebastian. Ripple needed surgery on the hand this week and that created the opportunity for Kuh.
“No one can replace what Cole can do,” Kuh said.” I just wanted to make the best of my opportunity.”
With 10:09 to go in the third Stokes connected on an 11 yard touchdown pass to Javonte Bagley. Then with 6:49 to go in the third Stokes threw a 51 yard touchdown pass to Will Dawkins. Stokes passed for over three hundred yards and threw five touchdowns in the game.
Vero running back Jason Pierre capped off the third quarter and the Vero win with a 1 yard touchdown run with 20 seconds to go.
“Dalton played really well for us tonight,” Jankowski said. “The line blocked well and our backs ran great. Jason Pierre ran real hard for us all night.”
Martin County scored their only touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a 2 yard run by Mitchell Patterson with 8:00 to go. The other came late in the game with under a minute to go. Martin County’s Dan Fillhaber sprinted 98 yards for the Tiger’s but it was too little too late and Vero recorded its first road victory of the season.
“I’m really proud of how our team played tonight,” Jankowski said. “Martin County gave us several different looks on defense but we were able to make the proper adjustments. Some new guys stepped up and stood out. It was a team effort again tonight.”
Vero Beach improves to 2-0 on the season and hosts Ft. Pierce Westwood next week at the Citrus Bowl.
