Drogo

True, they have won two in a row

In the 8A final since 2000, the south has won 10 times, the north has won 7 times, not exactly domination...

He’s a Broward county transplant who is still repping the teams down south, kinda like the high school football version of the northern transplants who move to this area and tell us how great it is where they came from.

Starting senior QB went down in 2nd game (2nd quarter) of season against Vero, they were hanging with Vero until that point.

As a Vero fan, I think Vero is overlooking a possible 2nd round against a 9-1 Riverview, all I see is talk of Osceola/ DP, with little to no mention of who they’ll potentially play 2nd round

Good analysis, as a Vero fan for over 30+ years and as a former player, Vero has a good team this year, but they have been in this exact position many times, lofty record heading into the playoffs, only to be derailed once they play a team of their caliber or better. in my opinion, Vero's problem again this season will be how they handle the adversity once they go down by 1, 2 or even 3 TD's, its been a while since the Oscar Smith, Pahokee games and nobody has really challenged them since. Viera had Vero down and had it not been for the 7 turnovers, would have beat them. If this years Vero team is truly different, they will fight back once down to the likes of Osceola, DP, etc, rather that how they have handled it in years past.

In the early late 80’s/ 90’s it was Evans, Manatee, Southeast, etc. Mid 90’s it was Southridge (Davis brother years) Killan,NW, Carol City, Dillard, etc. In the late 90’s previous coach(s) went the route of soft scheduling to ensure good good attendance in my opinion, and combined with the opening of nearby Sebastian River, Vero’s program suffered as a result. Vero draws large home crowds, but they are not an “educated” crowd. They don’t know the difference between nearby teams and Aquinas. They just want Vero to win, so that’s what they delivered. Coach Janikowski seems to be trying to bring in tougher teams again so hopefully that will get Vero over their playoff hump.

Only won it once, 1981

He's right, to make it fair to everyone, they are averaging the points based upon 7 games played currently due to the hurricane, a Lincoln win would have negatively hurt the average due to their record this year. Here is Vero's issue going forward: the Oscar Smith and Pahokee games are keeping their average high, but potential wins against Ft Pierce Central (2-4) Dr Krop (3-4) and Sebastian (3-4) to close out the season are going to lower the average. If some of the previous opponents win it will help, but Pahokee potentially losing to Cocoa Friday will lower the points accumulated for the win against them. Also point increasing/decreasing for wins against Centennial and Treasure coast will cancel each other out as they play each other Friday. What Vero really needs is for Wellington and Olympic Heights to win their final games, but I doubt that will happen as Wellington has a bye and then a currently 6-1 Atlantic team to close out the season. Olympic Heights will probably win their final two games against Royal Palm and Santaluces, which will help. I think Osceola overtakes Vero in the points this week as they play a 5-2 George Jenkins team and close out the regular season against a currently 3-5 Lake Brantley.

I notice there are no schools outside of Dade or Broward on this list, no good football is played anywhere else in the state?

I heard Wellington lost their freshman backup too, they're on their 3rd string QB

For a very brief time in the early 90’s Vero was put into a district with Osceola, but it was very brief- 2 years most likely. Vero opened with Maynard Evans yearly in some classic games during this time, including during Evans state title run. They also played Colonial a couple of times during the regular season around then too. Around this time they welcomed some of the Miami big boys ( Southridge, Senior, Carol City, Northwestern.) regularly too. As Trelle said, in the late 90’s/00’s, they became squarely a Palm Beach county school- in terms of district assignment. Vero has always been sort of a dead zone for big school districting- not the Orlando area, but not really Palm Beach either, and as a result they have always flipped from Palm Beach, Space coast, and the like until the population grew large enough on the Treasure coast to field 3-4 large school (currently 8a) teams.

The knock against Vero since the 90's has been that they do not play anyone during the regular season, and flame out early in the playoffs as a result. It seems as though Coach Jankowski is trying to change that this season. If you look at Vero Beach's schedule, it is somewhat more difficult this season: KOC: Viera (Class 7A 2015 state runner up, 2016 regional finalist) week 1: @ Oscar Smith HS, Chesapeake, VA (won state titles in 08, 11, state runner up in 2016) week 2: @ Wellington (Won 8A district 9 in 2016) week 3: Miami Dr Krop (Postponed due to Hurricane Irma) week 4: Ft Lauderdale (Cancelled due to Hurricane Irma) week 5: Pahokee (Won Class 1A state title in 2016) week 6: SLW Centennial (district game) week 7: Olympic Heights week 8: @ Treasure Coast High School (district game) week 9: Tallahasee Lincoln (fill in game during previously scheduled bye week since Ft Lauderdale cannot play make up game this season, does not count towards playoff points standings, however) week 10: @Ft Pierce Central (district game) Monday Oct 30: Miami Dr Krop (make up date for Hurricane postponed game) week 11: @Sebastian River (Rivalry game, 2016 regional semifinalist) Vero has a proud football tradition (won 1981 state title,) they put many kids into D1, D2, etc programs and have had many guys play at the NFL level as well. In recent years Vero has struggled to make the "next step" in terms of the 8A North bracket playoffs: 2015 they lost by a touchdown to Osceola (who played in the title game,) 2016 lost to Dr Phillips (who played in the title game) by 10 last year. As you stated Bamarod, the citrus bowl in Vero Beach is one of the best places to watch a high school game in Florida, and well worth the trip if the anyone is so inclined.