Vero Beach High School Fighting Indians — Vero Beach, Florida

The Fighting Indians are the athletic teams of Vero Beach High School, the public high school in Vero Beach operated by the School District of Indian River County. Football is the flagship. Home games are played at the Citrus Bowl on Billy Livings Field, directly across the street from the school's Performing Arts Center, according to Vero News, and the stadium crowds were described in 2022 as one of the best home-field advantages in Florida. The Fighting Indians Marching Band plays the Vero Beach fight song at those games.

The program is broad. In October 2018 the head football coach, who is also the school's athletic director, said he funded 49 varsity and sub-varsity teams at Vero Beach High, and that football was the program that makes money for the others. Baseball is the other Vero Beach team with recent state runs. Neither sport has won a state title since 1981: football's only championship came that year, and baseball has never won one, though both came within reach in the 2025-2026 school year.

Vero Beach High won its lone football state title in 1981, one year after coach Billy Livings arrived. The Fighting Indians beat Panama City Mosley 10-7 at home for the Florida Class 4A championship, Vero News recalled in December 2025.

Livings coached Vero Beach for 26 seasons. Vero Beach 32963 reported in November 2016 that he compiled a 211-86 record with 20 playoff appearances, 15 district titles, seven state semifinals and one state championship. Vero Beach put his name on the Citrus Bowl field in September 2000, and he entered the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in April 2012, months after his death in October 2011.

The program cooled after Livings. The Fighting Indians reached the Final Four for the last time under him in 1998, and the 1994 opening of Sebastian River High School meant Vero Beach High shared Indian River County's football talent, Vero News noted in 2019.

Vero Beach High hired Lenny Jankowski as football coach in January 2011, with a charge to restore the program and compete for state titles, according to Vero News. Regular-season wins came almost at once. His teams were 59-8 after six seasons, and the 2016 team went 11-0 and reached the Region 2 Class 8A final against Orlando's Dr. Phillips.

The streak became a record. By October 2018 Vero Beach had won 49 straight regular-season games dating to 2013. On a Friday night in late October 2019 the Fighting Indians beat Fort Pierce Central 28-3 at Lawnwood Stadium for their 61st consecutive regular-season victory, a Florida record, lifting Jankowski's Vero Beach record to 91-11. Playoff success lagged: through 2019 his teams had won seven of 15 playoff games and had not reached a Final Four.

Jankowski came to Vero Beach from Walton High in DeFuniak Springs, where he had been football coach and athletic director. By October 2018 his Vero Beach record stood at 76-10, with four straight district titles and a playoff berth in each of his first seven seasons; the 2013 team reached a regional final, one win from the Final Four. In 2018 the Fighting Indians won road games at Venice, the defending Class 7A champion, at Pahokee and at St. Lucie West Centennial before October.

The schedule toughened along the way. Vero Beach opened 2017 with a win at Oscar Smith High in Virginia, and in September 2022 an undefeated team had to move a home game to Sebastian River's Shark Stadium because the rain-soaked Citrus Bowl field could not be used, Vero Beach 32963 reported. That 2022 team had won its first four games by a combined 171-6.

The 2025 season brought Vero Beach High back to the title game. On November 28, 2025 the Fighting Indians beat Dr. Phillips 49-23 for the program's first regional championship since 1998. On December 5 the top-seeded team, still undefeated, beat Miami Palmetto 45-44 in double overtime in a Class 7A state semifinal before a sold-out Citrus Bowl, stopping a two-point try on the final play.

The final was played on December 13 at Florida International University's Pitbull Stadium in Miami. Vero Beach led 21-3 at halftime and 27-21 with seconds left, but Lake Mary scored on a last-play pass and lateral and kicked the extra point to win 28-27, Vero Beach 32963 reported. The Fighting Indians finished 14-1 in the first state championship game for Vero Beach High in 44 years, as watch parties filled clubs and sports bars across the island and mainland.

Vero Beach baseball has a long-serving coach and a recent run of deep playoff trips. Bryan Rahal was in his sixth season in April 2018, when the team started 17-2 with a 10-game winning streak capped by an 11-2 district win over Fort Pierce Central, according to Vero News. The team reached the Final Four in 2024, its first state-level appearance in two decades.

In May 2026 the Fighting Indians swept Park Vista in the Class 7A, Region 3 final to return to the state semifinals at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Vero Beach 32963 reported. On May 15, 2026 Vero Beach took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning before Venice rallied to win 4-2, ending the season at 24-5, Vero News reported. A first state baseball title for Vero Beach High remains unclaimed.

Football revenue carries much of Vero Beach High athletics. In July 2021 the coach and athletic director told Vero Beach 32963 that football is the one program that turns a profit, with home gates that can reach $20,000. In 2020, COVID-19 limits held Citrus Bowl crowds to 1,000 and cut ticket and booster revenue by half. For 2021 the school launched the Vero Nation Network, a pay-per-view stream at $15 a game or $125 a season, with 70 percent of proceeds going to the school.

Track, soccer and lacrosse gained a home in January 2026, when the Jimmy Graves Sports and Community Complex opened at 1900 16th St., just north of Billy Livings Field. The $7.6 million facility has an eight-lane track and a regulation soccer field that doubles for lacrosse, and it let Vero Beach High hold track meets on campus for the first time since 2013, Vero News reported. Partners included the School District of Indian River County, the City of Vero Beach, state funding, Florida Power & Light and private donors.