Vero Beach roars back to knock off Fort Pierce Central - TCPalm
VERO BEACH — Some simple halftime defensive adjustments paid off for Vero Beach High School's football team in a battle of two state-ranked teams that lived up to its hype.
Vero Beach rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit — with the help of four takeaways — and came back to beat Fort Pierce Central 35-28 in front of a packed house at the Citrus Bowl.
Trailing 21-14 at the half, Vero Beach (5-0, ranked seventh in Class 8A) took advantage of big plays by its defense to score three straight touchdowns before Central (3-1, ranked eighth in Class 7A) could get back on the board with just over five minutes left to play.
Vero Beach ended any threat of a Central comeback by intercepting quarterback Marcus Sigmon on the Cobras' last two drives.
"The defensive staff got together and made some adjustments (at half)," Vero Beach coach Lenny Jankowski said. "It wasn't anything very sophisticated. It was just making our guys more comfortable with what they had going on. We thought we had a good game plan going in, but we had a hard time getting our communication and getting to the ball. So, we simplified some things and made them beat us."
Vero Beach got its spark when linebacker Cole Ripple intercepted a bobbled pass on the second play of the third quarter. Running back Dentist Hall punched in a score moments later.
Special teams pitched in on the ensuing kickoff return, as Charles Ivory rammed Central's Joe Figueroa as he made his catch, popping the ball up and into the outstretched arms of Dravious Wright. Vero Beach then took a 35-21 lead on a 13-yard pass from Nick Madden to Charlie Miller with 8:19 left.
Central rebounded with a Sigmon 38-yard TD pass to Alquan Vickers with 5:15 remaining, but Vero Beach's Bradley Petticrew and Sean Paul both intercepted Sigmon passes to seal the win.
"We just shot ourselves in the foot," Fort Pierce Central coach Josh Shaffer said. "It's the little details. It's just that we didn't take care of our business."
Madden finished 23 of 33 passing for 279 yards and Miller caught five of those for 116 yards and two scores.
Marcus Levy (26 rushes for 177 yards) and Sigmon (15-32 passing, 120 yards) scored rushing touchdowns to give Central an early 14-0 lead..
01 Oct, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNE8-7VFF4uxHoS3zgE6sg-678Yatg&url=http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/oct/01/indians-fight-back/
~
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com
