JENSEN BEACH – Nick Venezia is the heart and soul of what makes the Jensen Beach Falcons great.
He has led his team to the completion of arguably their best regular season in school history – 8-2 record, District 12-3S title, and No. 2 seed in the Class 3S-Region 3. He has even earned the complete respect of his entire team – fellow teammates and coaches alike.
He will go down as a Jensen Beach legend in more ways than one.
Venezia spoke on how Jensen Beach got it done in historic fashion.
“We just bought into it all,” Venezia said. “Last year I was a new kid and didn’t have my leadership role on the team because I did not know the guys that well. This year I learned from everything I saw last year and took complete control of the team and demanded perfection out of everyone every single day of workouts or practice. No one missed any workouts or practice since December. We have really used all the pain we felt last year and just completely deleted losing from our vocabulary.”
Venezia had more to say about his team’s amazing regular season.
“Even in our losses we played with everything we have, and that is all you can ask for out of your teammates,” said Venezia, who has earned two scholarship offers from Keiser and Ithaca College (New York). “I really pushed these guy to their limits, and it really has paid off. Now we are going to play PSL (Port St. Lucie) in the playoffs when most thought we wouldn’t even make it.”
Jensen Beach’s improvement has been nothing short of remarkable, considering the fact it was 3-6 last season.
“This season we really needed to turn it around from last year, and part of my role and being a leader on this year is getting other people open,” Venezia said. “So I took double teams every game and if not, I was triple teamed, which is complimenting but very frustrating. As long as we got the win, I couldn’t be upset.”
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound athlete caught a total of 38 passes for 637 receiving yards (700+ total yards) and 10 total touchdowns in the regular season. He is the second-leading wide receiver in the Treasure Coast, behind only Vero Beach senior wide receiver and Florida State verbal commit Vandrevius Jacobs (69 receptions, 1,177 yards, 18 touchdowns in 10 games played).
Still, Venezia found a way to deflect from himself and focus on his team.
“I’ve been really happy and proud of the young guys on our team stepping up and just showing the grit and determination to win,” Venezia said. “So I have been happy with how my season and the season of our team is going. Obviously, wish we would’ve pulled it out against [Martin] County but again sometimes that just the way these things go.”
Speaking of Martin County, it turned out to be Venezia’s best game to date in the Week 11 tilt. Our No. 15-ranked player in the Treasure Coast finished with eight catches for 153 yards, two touchdowns, and a hurdle for the ages.
“I really emptied the tank and it was a personal game, so it really brought out the best in me,” he said.
Venezia spoke on his hurdle over a Martin County defender, which happened during the fourth quarter of Jensen Beach’s 27-22 home loss.
“The whole game they were ankle biting, so we ran a quick screen to me,” Venezia said. “I knew I was going to get the ball. It has been my dream since I have started playing football to hurdle someone in game, and since they were ankle biting and I knew the ball was going to me, I said “screw it” and just did it.”
Venezia touched on how he and his team felt after losing a close one to Martin County at the final buzzer.
“This loss to Martin County was so heartbreaking, probably the worst pain I have ever felt in a game,” Venezia said. “But we all felt that, and I think we are going to use it as motivation because none of us want to feel this way ever again. Play with the chip on our shoulder. I am going to do my thing and everyone else will as well. Good luck to PSL is all I have to say.”
SIDE NOTE: No. 2 seed Jensen Beach will be at home against No. 7 seed Port St. Lucie (5-4) in the Class 3S-Region 3 quarterfinal round on tomorrow night (Nov. 11; 6 p.m. kickoff) in Jensen Beach.
The winner will advance to the 3S-Region 3 semifinal round on Friday, Nov. 18.
VIDEO CREDITS: HurriShane, JP Global (Jordan Parker), Silvia Venezia Hagan, and TC Palm
