Rays Advance to Final Four

The joy of high school sports was on full display Saturday night, November 1, when the Marco Island Academy Rays traveled to Babcock Ranch and won their first-ever playoff game, 35-0.

There are a lot of firsts in play for a Rays team that has not tasted a lot of success in its 13 years. Their first playoff win is also their first Elite Eight appearance and win. It also leads to their first Final Four appearance. Their fourth win matches a season high. Still in play for this year’s Rays (4-5) is the quest for a winning season. It was also the Rays’ first road win in over seven years. It also marks the first time the Rays were on the right side of the clock rule, which goes into effect when a team has a 35-point lead in the second half.

The icing on the cake for first-year head coach Rich Costante had to be when his players snuck up on him during a post-game interview and surprised him with an ice water bath.

"Oh, man, that's cold,” a totally drenched Costante said. "But it feels so good!”

Saturday’s entire performance had to feel good to Costante and all of the Rays’ family who made the one-and-a-half-hour trek to Babcock Ranch, an 18,000-acre solar-powered planned community built on the site of an historic cattle ranch.

“The boys all week were focused,” Costante said. “We wanted this rematch. We felt we got the short end of the stick on homecoming when the transformer blew.”

The Rays lost their homecoming game, 13-6, when a transformer blew at Winterberry Field early in the second half, ending the game. Saturday’s game was essentially over when Ryan Winterick scored on a 34-yard pick-six for the first of five unanswered scores for the Rays.

“Probably one of our best weeks of practice,” Costante said. “Our defensive game plan was scrapped before the game because they came out in a different offensive set than we were prepared for. And our defense played great. They threw a shutout up there, which is amazing. I couldn't tell you the last time I had a shutout. Number one, that we shut someone out. Number two, there was a running clock. So that was very nice. The offense played well. We shot ourselves in the foot and had four field goal attempts where they could have been touchdowns in the second and third quarters. But you know that fourth quarter, we really turned it around, and the offense fired on all cylinders. It's the first time all year we scored in every quarter. That's always a goal for us.”

The Rays football team is competing in the upstart Sunshine State Athletic Association (SSAA) rather than the more established Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA). The SSAA, which started as a single-sport organization (football) in 2008, is experiencing rapid growth. The core goal for the SSAA is to "provide a level playing field for like-minded schools.” The SSAA currently serves over 120 member schools in the state, across 14 sports.

Saturday’s game may have been the finest performance in Rays’ history. There were several notable performances. Axton Middlebrook was the leading rusher with 104 yards on 25 carries, including a touchdown. Noah Smith got a lot of the tough yards, picking up 87 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. Quarterback Carter Good was 7-12 for 127 yards passing with one TD pass. Ryan Winterick had three catches for 58 yards and a touchdown, to go along with his 34-yard pick-six. Defensively, Kai Schretell picked off two passes, bringing one back to the 10-yard line, setting up the Rays’ final score. Hutch Hamilton also picked off a pass for the Rays.

Costante couldn’t be happier.

"You know, they've all bought in,” he said. “The seniors have really come around. I think the seniors are realizing it's almost over. Most of them are going to go to college, but most aren't going to go play in college. They are just fighting, and they want it. They don't want to give up. They don't want to turn their pads in. And that's a testament to them. These boys are growing exponentially. It's been a great turnaround. Our defense has been playing lights out. Our offense came alive today in the fourth quarter. But our defense for the last three games has been lights out. It's been pretty amazing.”

The unseeded Rays now have a chance to avenge another defeat when they travel to the Orlando area to take on two seed Windermere Prep (6-3) at 1:00 PM on Saturday, November 8, in the Final Four. Windermere beat the Rays 31-20 on September 6.

"Now we've got Windermere again,” Costante said. “That's a team we played the third week of the season. We went up there, and we've got to go up there again. They're a good team. They do a lot right. But we felt we had a good game plan, we were winning, 14-7, at halftime. The third quarter kind of got away from us a little bit. But we're excited for this opportunity. I mean, we just tied the school record for most wins in the season. One more win gives us the most wins in school history. We're 4-5 right now. We’re a little banged up. We've got to get healthy. The nice thing is one more win and we're in a state championship game. So that's amazing.”