2A Rays Battle Gamely in Loss to 6A North Fort Myers

The class 6A North Fort Myers Red Knights basketball team strode into the Marco Island Academy gym on Thursday, December 2, 2021 with an air of confidence, led by muscular 6;3”, 225-pound Atavious Weaver. Their entrance seemed to make an impression on everyone, including the Rays team.

“When they first walked in, I think it affected everybody,” said Jim Watt, the class 2A Rays first year head coach, who saw his team fall 56-42. “But we talked through that. We said, ’No one’s intimidated.' Our kids gave them a game. They hung in there. I’m really proud of them.”

Weaver, a Division One football prospect, was physical and athletic as he soared through the air, blocking shots and grabbing rebounds. A depleted Rays roster, missing three contributors, had their work cut out for them trying to stop Weaver and teammates Quentin Wimbush and Jayden Jones, who stand 6’3” and 6’5".

"We had three varsity guys hurt who couldn’t even play tonight,” Watt said. "So, we only had six varsity players. I think I got seven JV players in tonight." 

The Red Knights scored the game’s first seven points before Rays point guard Brooks Vorderstrasse hit a three-pointer with 4:53 left in the first quarter that seemed to help calm down the rattled Rays.

Vorderstrasse, who recently moved to Marco Island from Colorado, scored the Rays’ first eight points, trimming the North Fort Myers lead to 14-8 with 41 seconds left in the first quarter. His teammates began playing with more confidence.

The Rays followed with a strong second quarter, scoring 15 points, and coming within six points of the Red Knights on a couple of occasions.

“I felt like they played really well tonight,” Watt said, “I really did. I felt like they gave a full effort tonight. I was really proud of them. I told them, ‘I’m so proud of you guys. Because North Fort Myers came in here thinking they were going to dominate you guys. You gave them a game.’”

Watt singled out two senior captains for their efforts. 

“I think Joe Reisinger stood out tonight,” Watt said. "He’s one of our team captains. Brooks, he stood out as well. Both of those guys are team captains. I consider all of my seniors’ captains. But those two are probably my two biggest captains. Those two stood out tonight because of their effort and hard work.”

The scrappy Reisinger, though outsized, stood toe-to-toe with his Red Knight opponents, making plays all over the court. Vorderstrasse led all scorers with 28 points.

“When you look at the whole body of work from everybody,” Watt said, “we were getting rebounds off of guys that were much bigger. Tony Castillo, he pulled down some rebounds tonight. I’m just really, really proud of all of them.”

Watt mixed things up by inserting his two freshmen guards, Gage Rice and Jake Watt, his son. Their effect of the game is tangible. The Red Knight ball handlers had trouble dealing with the pressure from the freshmen duo.

“There’s an uptick of speed and energy,” Watt said. "When I run the full court press, that’s when I bring those two in. It gets everybody playing faster. It rattled them, for sure. They threw away some passes."

Watt said his team grows from matchups with bigger schools.

"There’s 1,900 kids in their school,” Watt said. "I think what it does, it tells our kids they can play with almost anybody. You can see the younger kids are nervous when they’re out there playing. So, this kind of game helps them shake that off. We played quite a few kids.”

The Rays (2-1) host four teams starting Friday, December 12. On Friday, the Village School (0-1) visits, on Tuesday it’s Everglades City (2-1), on Thursday Bishop Verot (1-3) and Friday Donahue Catholic (1-1).