Estero tops Fort Myers 29-23 in new Green Wave coach Joey Mendes' debut

ESTERO, Fla. (WINK) — Fort Myers opened its preseason at home against Estero with Joey Mendes taking the sideline for the first time as Green Wave head coach.

Mendes' first night in charge quickly turned into a test. Fort Myers and Estero traded blows through the first half, with the Green Wave taking a 16-15 lead into the break.

At halftime, Mendes said this first game was giving him a chance to learn what kind of team he has.

"Not bad. We just got to clean up some of the small things, man, and all the big things will come," Mendes said. "We just we're trying to learn ourselves. We're trying to figure out how our team is gonna play out. And in the 2nd half, we'll see how much adversity we have."

For Mendes, his first game leading the Green Wave was personal. He played for Sam Sirianni Jr. at Fort Myers, then leaned on him as a mentor while building his own coaching career.

Now, he's the one responsible for carrying that program forward.

"It's an honor to just take over him after everything he's done for me personally playing for him and be my mentor through coaching," Mendes said. "So to coach out here in his honor and just try to keep up what he did."

Estero won 29-23.