Rays Shine in Rainy Practice

They showed up one by one and two by two in a pouring rain. But while the weather was gloomy, the players were cheerful and ready for their first fall practice in pads. New Marco Island Academy coach Rich Costante couldn’t help but be pleased with what transpired during Friday’s upbeat three-hour practice at the Jane Watt Sports Complex.

“We just finished up the second week of our fall camp,” Costante said. “Next week we start our preseason week. We're going to have an intersquad scrimmage next Friday night, get them ready for the opening game.”

The scrimmage, scheduled for Friday, August 15, at 7:00 PM, will be played at the Steve and Barbara Slaggie Athletic Field on the MIA campus. Costante is excited to introduce his team to the community.

“We're going to do four quarters,” he said. "The first quarter is going to be our number one offense versus our best of the rest defense. We're going to do a couple drives. The second quarter is going to be our number one defense versus our best of the rest offense. Then we're going to come off the field and let the cheerleaders perform for a little bit, like a halftime. Then we're going to come back out and have our number one offense versus our best of the rest defense again. And then our number one defense works against our best of the rest offense. We'll do a little special teams work, some punting and kickoff, just to get reps in and get it on film so the kids can kind of see how we're going to do it for the following Friday, which is the first game.

“We're not going to be charging admission. We’re going to get the community here, get some interest drummed up. We’ll be selling some old jerseys. It'll be good to get the community coming out seeing it. Selfishly, I want to put on a good show on this turf so that people can see it. And maybe someday we can maybe make a football field somewhere close to here.”

The scrimmage will be a rare opportunity for the community to see the football team perform in the school’s sparkling sports complex. Because while the athletic field is large enough for soccer and lacrosse, there was just not enough real estate available to accommodate a regulation football field. Consequently, the Rays play their home games at Winterberry Park. But for one night, supporters will get to see the Rays in action on their home campus.

Despite frequent thunderstorms, the Rays have gotten in some solid practice.

"You know, the first week was a good week,” Costante said. "This week was a little bit better. Obviously, the weather's a factor. But the good news is kids are starting to come back into town. We're getting more and more kids every day. We've got a couple more kids that are out of town, but come Monday, I expect to have about 34 out here. So that's great. They've been working their butts off and getting better every day. So it's exciting. Our defense is very, very solid right now. I tell them our defense is a Porsche and our offense right now is a Yugo, so we're going to fine-tune that offense a little bit. But the defense right now is definitely our moneymaker.”

The Rays appear to have more size than in seasons past.

“We're getting bigger and bigger every day,” Costante said. "It's nice. We’re definitely pleased by the size. When I was interviewing for the job, the biggest thing was they were worried about how many linemen we'd have. And we definitely have a good number of linemen. It’s looking good. We’re doing a good job. We’re definitely getting there."

Costante feels he has a decent number at the skill positions, too.

“We've got some really good skills,” he said. "We've got some kids that we have to get the ball in their hands in space. They're playmakers. We definitely have a good number of them. It's just a matter of how we get them the ball. We've got to be multifaceted and get them the ball in multiple areas."

Costante has three athletes working at quarterback.

"Right now we've got two,” he said. "One more is still hurt. He's not here yet. But yeah, we've got two at the quarterback spot battling it out. We're excited. Friday will definitely be a big thing, kind of separating the cream of the crop from everyone else. And that'll definitely put us in place.”

The Rays, who were showing signs of becoming a competitive program under Greg Fowler (6-14) in 2015-2016 and Damon Coiro (6-13) in 2017-2018, have suffered through a prolonged winning drought, brought on primarily by the folding of the successful Marco Eagles youth football program, the team’s feeder system. Today, the only feeder program on the island is the Optimist flag football league. Lew Montgomery (2-24) inherited a program that was on a 17-game losing streak from Steve Kaplan (0-15). The streak grew to 34 games before Montgomery’s 2023 team earned a 32-20 home win against Warner Christian Academy. Montgomery won his opening game in 2024 before finishing with four straight losses. At one point, the program’s numbers had dwindled to the point where the team had to forfeit games at the end of the season because they didn’t have enough healthy players. It’s noteworthy, however, that Montgomery had built the numbers back up to 40 players last season.

Costante, who has a football coaching background, twice earned coach of the year honors as Lely’s softball coach. He’s also helped coach MIA’s successful volleyball program. He believes he can make the Rays a winner. Part of his strategy is building a coaching staff that includes former Rays standouts.

"Tyler Gresham is probably the best player that's ever come through this program,” Costante said of the former Rays running back and linebacker who has joined his staff. "So getting him back was huge. You know, my thing was I wanted to get people on my staff that played here. So at least these boys could look up to people that were in their shoes. Kyle Ginther played here. He's going to be coaching our O-line and D-line. We have Gianna Rose, who is one of the greatest basketball players to play at MIA. But, you know, she has an incredible football mind. Better than most men on this island. My defensive coordinator is going to be Luke Evangelista. He’s from Oregon but born and raised in Chicago. Luke went to the University of Oregon and coached a little bit out there the last couple of years. He moved down here to be by his family. We welcomed him in with open arms. He has so much knowledge of the game. It’s really helping. And then we've got Zack Mueller, who's our quarterback coach. He was on staff last year. He, Kyle Ginther and Steve Connor are the three holdovers from last year's staff. Steve's going to be coaching the wide receivers and defensive backs. Zack's coaching quarterbacks. I'm the offensive coordinator. Luke's the defensive coordinator. Tyler coaches running backs and linebackers. Gianna coaches wide receivers and linebackers. The last piece of the puzzle is Kyler Howard, who is going to come back. He's another alumni. He'll help us on game days, maybe a practice here or there. But he, along with Gianna, will be our eyes in the sky on game days, helping us coaches with formations and personnel, things like that. Being a former quarterback, he can read the defense. He was a really good ball player.”

With decent numbers and what he sees as a favorable schedule, Costante believes he can get the job done at MIA.

"I'm very optimistic,” he said. "You know what I mean? Very optimistic. I think the schedule sets up for us to be successful. At this point, it's not about the X’s and O’s. It's about the Jimmys and Joes. We've got to come ready to play. If they do what we ask them to do, we'll be fine. If we play selfish football, we're gonna struggle."

The Rays open their seven game regular season schedule when they host West Oaks Academy (Orlando) on Friday, August 22, at 7:00 PM at Winterberry Park. They will play a seven-game schedule.