VERO BEACH, Fla. — Vero Beach High School was established in 1925, but not much was known about the school until around 2006 when the Vero Beach Fighting Indians gradually started putting the school in the spotlight for good reasons.

For over nine years, the Fighting Indians put up an intense fight and won back-to-back state lacrosse championships. They became one of the top lacrosse teams in Florida and have won 128 consecutive matches in the state. They won their ninth state championship in 2014 with a 21-3 record. Their three losses came from lacrosse teams outside the state.

The Fighting Indians were not always champions of lacrosse in Florida. In fact, they only fielded their first lacrosse team in 2001 without even an experienced coach. They struggled in their first four years until Shannon Dean was named the team’s head coach in 2003.

Prior to this time, Dean was managing the junior varsity lacrosse team. Wrestling and soccer were the areas he was more experienced in, but because he saw that the lacrosse team needed an experienced coach, he took it upon himself to get himself prepared for that position.

Coach Dean started attending conventions organized by national lacrosse teams. He also read books on the sport. By 2003, he was ready for the enormous task of coaching the team. The team started with a few losing seasons under Coach Dean but got one of their big wins against the St. Edward’s lacrosse team. They went to their first playoffs the following season and were crowned the state champions for the first time in 2006. The rest is history.

Their main secret in all these years has been the same thing: beat the strongest team in the fight and learn while doing so.

“We were already best in Florida and could only get better playing the elite northeastern schools and learning from them,” Coach Dean said.

From 2001 to 2014, the Fighting Indians had a record of 247-25. They had 30 All-Americans, 66 Academic All-Americans and six honorable mention All-Americans.

Just like every other team, the Fighting Indians use practice time to master their winning strategy against their opponents. In 2018, senior defender Kaylee Coleman gave a hint on what it is like during practice.

“Practices are more intense because we focus on specific defenses and specific attacks,” Coleman said. “(Coach Dean) also incorporates a lot of new drills into practices. It’s harder on us, but we are better prepared for the upper-level teams.”

In 2021, the Fighting Indians lost an opportunity to add to their championship record after losing to St. Thomas Aquinas during a final game in the Class 2A Lacrosse Championship at the Austin-Tindall Park Complex. Despite the loss, the Fighting Indians remain one of the best lacrosse teams in Florida and the United States by extension.

The city of Vero Beach honored the Fighting Indians by erecting two signs showing their achievements, while Coach Dean is one of the few lacrosse coaches who have made the cover of a lacrosse magazine.

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