Rays Looking for More than Wins

Marco Island Academy wrapped up their football season Friday night, falling 62-0 to Bradenton Bayshore (4-4), who scored at will on the scrappy but overmatched Rays.

The loss wraps up a season that was highlighted by a win over Warner Christian of Daytona Beach on September 22, which snapped a 36-game losing streak that spanned five seasons. But Head Coach Lew Montgomery can glean many more positives from the Rays 1-5 season.

"You know, I think the kids learned a lot of football, and we saw them absorb those lessons last night,” said Montgomery. “It was a tough game. But at the same time, I saw a lot of individual growth. I also saw team unity. After the game, the kids gave Leo De Martino a lot of praise and a lot of love."

De Martino was the only senior on this year’s Rays squad, and Friday Night was senior night. It was also homecoming. Collette Combs was crowned homecoming queen. Chase Johnson was voted homecoming king.

Montgomery said his football team remains upbeat. After all, they did end that long losing streak this season.

“They were all ready to get back,” Montgomery said. “They're ready to get in that weight room, they're ready for this off-season to get better, to grow. And they all promised to put on about 10 pounds and grow an inch or two. I think that they bought into what we're trying to do.”

Montgomery, who was an outstanding high school and college football player, appreciates the life lessons that football can teach.

 “They realize what football is about,” Montgomery said of his young team, "the game itself, what it takes and the payoffs. I think they got enjoyment from the camaraderie, the contact, and just the consistency of it all the way through the summer and the grind of two days in August. It got hot out there and they didn't miss a beat.”

The past two seasons, MIA had to end their season early because they ran out of healthy bodies. This year was different.

“We had the resiliency,” Montgomery said. “We only ended up having one real main injury. It’s night and day from past seasons.”

Montgomery expects to get most - if not all - of his roster back for next season. He’s glad the long losing streak is behind them.

“We got the win,” Montgomery said. "We got first downs. We were able to score. There were a lot of stops that we made in the red zone. We made progress on special teams. But the win was the big one. The losing streak was a monkey on our back or a cloud following us around. The kids feel that. We're ready next year just to have that clean slate. We’ve just got to play good football, and wins come along with it. We played against a lot of good teams with a lot of upperclassmen. Our young kids saw that and understand that if they stick around what they're capable of. There's a lot of belief and hope for our future."