MIA Football "Coming Together Like a Team”

Marco Island Academy football coach Lew Montgomery can hardly contain his enthusiasm when talking about his new football team. He’s delighted that for the first time in four years as Rays head coach, he doesn’t have to start at ground zero with an inexperienced aggregation. Having a team with prior experience is allowing the coach to hit the ground running this spring.

"They really are looking good,” Montgomery said with a smile after Friday’s practice. "I'm not going to let them know that. But they are coming together like a team. It feels so good to not be at first base again. It feels like we're finally starting off with a foundation. We're definitely always coaching the fundamentals, but I'm not having to teach it as if it was freshman 101. These are kids that are able to start taking things to the next level. We can take our offense, and we can add some twists to it. It's only the first week and they're already picking a lot of things up. We knocked the rust off real quick. It's been exciting."

Montgomery sees his young group maturing and improving.

"I have a lot of kids that were young - and they're still young. But some of them have jumped up five, six inches. They also just have the maturity, I can see that with the way the program is developing off the field. There’s also a level of camaraderie and brotherhood and respect for each other that I think is the key to us being successful. They need to understand that they all need each other.”

Montgomery said his team is making strides on a daily basis. 

"I really feel like we're making positive strides every day, moving forward. We haven't had any hiccups. I think we are raising the bar as far as standards and what we expect out of the team. We've lost a few people along the way. But I think that's a good thing in the long run. Numbers are always an issue for me, but if we're going to be successful - an actual program - the standards have to rise to the level that they are now."

Montgomery said the MIA’s lacrosse team has been a boon to the football program.

"I'm going to go ahead and give a lot of credit where credit is due,” Montgomery said. "And that's the lacrosse team. The kids that played it all benefited. They're coming out a lot more athletic. Even the ones that put on a little size, they're still wearing it."

Montgomery is coaching a couple of dozen players these days. His program has seen numbers closer to a dozen in the past. In fact, on a couple of occasions the Rays have had to end their football season early because they didn’t have enough bodies to safely field a team. But things are changing for the better now. 

"I wish we had some more depth,” Montgomery said, "but I really do think that we have two good quarterbacks. I've got two good fullbacks. I've got three good tailbacks.”

And there’s reinforcements coming from the middle school this fall.

“About ten eighth graders are really eager to come out,” he said. "They've been at the Y working out, and they've been letting me know that they're ready for it. And we have a couple decent sized kids in that class as well, so that'll help.”

The Rays are coming off of a 1-5 season in 2023. But that one win was a big one, snapping a 36-game losing streak that stretched across five seasons.