Hungry Rays Start Spring Practice

The energy level was high and there was a lot of good coaching going on as the Marco Island Academy football team, winless in their last four seasons, started spring practice on Wednesday, May 5, in the outfield of Tyler Beck Memorial Ballpark on the campus of Tommie Barfield Elementary.

“Spring’s been great for us so far,” said Rays head coach Lew Montgomery. “We’ve got the underclassmen out with us right now. Letting them take over and define what this team’s going to be about in the 2022 season. We’ve got some new coaches on board. No coaches have left.”

Montgomery has a young lady, Angel Haynes, practicing with the team this spring. 

“She’s doing great,” Montgomery said with a smile. "She’s getting after it. She came to ask me if she could play, and I was all about it. I said, ‘Heck yeah, if it sounds like a duck, walks like a duck, you’re a duck. You’re the most football player I’ve got walking around here.'  She’s always got camo on. She usually has a chain hanging somewhere. She doesn’t take any gruff from anybody out here. It’s been a blessing. If I could have a couple more of her, it would be great.”

Montgomery took over the Rays’ program last season. He didn’t have the benefit of spring practice. He’s taking full advantage of it this spring.

“We get 20 practices in the spring,” Montgomery said. “I’m going to get those in right away in May. We’ve had a great group of eighth graders who came through for visits. They’re energetic. I think we’ll have another group of young guys to nurture. I think we finally got some decent numbers in the middle grades. Some of the linemen have been putting in some extra work in the off season to the point that it’s rubbing off on some of the others. If we can just get the pieces of the puzzle together, we’ll be good to go. I’m a little disappointed that we’re not going to have our practice field done in time for the season. We’ll make it work. With what we have now, I think we’re totally ready to make a good run at it. The boys are ready, they’re excited. All it takes is the experience. I think last year we got a lot of reps in. I think last year, not getting that extra two weeks of spring practice, and missing the last game at the end of the season because of the weather situation, left the kids hungry.”

No one wants to end the Rays' prolonged losing streak more than Montgomery.

"I wish we could have had a taste of victory,” he said, "and I felt it may have come. But more importantly, the kids are hungry. I’m ready for August. We open with Canterbury. We have a good schedule this year. Miss Ryan Roberts, our athletic director, was very proactive in finding teams that are going to match our caliber. Where we’re supposed to be. I think that’s going to help. Our boys are ready. They’re ready to make that leap and start understanding what it takes to win. This is their first spring practice. They’ve never had spring ball before. I think it caught them off guard a little when I told them we were going to go in May. But they’re ready. The coaches are beyond ready. Coach Matt Rice is itching to go. He’s bouncing off the wall. Football is where he loves to be. It’s football season."