Faith Academy football mercy-rules Nueces Canyon

CAPTION: Faith Academy senior Sawyer Jones (32) and juniors Price Rosemond (2) and Wade Dillard (12) lead opportunistic defense that against Barksdale Nueces Canyon. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team ensured a happy homecoming thanks to crushing Barksdale Nueces Canyon 56-6 Sept. 19.

“I don’t know if I’d call it a statement win,” head coach Jay Silvers said. “It’s good to get back on track. We preached all week talking about being efficient and finishing up the week strong. Friday night, they got it all together.”

The Flames (3-1) led 14-0 after the first quarter thanks to a 55-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore Landon Silvers and a 50-yard rushing score by senior Andrew Houy. Sophomore Egan Barnes added the two-point kick.

The Panthers scored on a two-yard pass to trim the deficit to 14-6 at the start of the second quarter.

Then Faith scored 42 unanswered points.

Houy ran to paydirt from 10 yards out and Barnes added the two-point kick. Junior Wade Dillard found Landon Silvers for a 40-yard touchdown pass. Then Landon Silvers added a 28-yard scamper to the end zone.

Dillard threw his second touchdown pass, this time to Houy from 65 yards out. Senior Ben Strmiska added the two points.

Houy ran to the end zone from 65 yards out with Strmiska adding the two points for the 50-6 advantage.

Landon Silvers scored on a 37-yard rushing touchdown to end the game.

The coach pointed out what changed in the second quarter.

“They’d had a couple players that were injured in the last game against Richland Springs, and they were some of their bigger players,” he said. “And I didn’t know if they’d be back. One was wearing a boot and the other was on crutches, but they were back this week. So we had planned for them, but we didn’t know they’d be there. So we went with what we thought – our smaller and faster group on defense. Then after watching the first two series, we realized we had to pick our guys up. And once we did that, we just started staying there on defense.”

Nueces Canyon had 26 rushes for 181 yards and a score and completed 8 of 17 passes for 74 yards for 255 yards of total offense.

Faith had seven rushes for 240 yards and Dillard’s two completed passes went for two touchdowns and for 105 yards for 345 yards of total offense.

Houy had three caries for 113 yards and three touchdowns and caught a 65-yard touchdown, while Landon Silvers had four rushes for 142 yards and three touchdowns and a 40-yard receiving score.

“I knew that when we fire on all cylinders offensively, from my side, we’re a hard team to plan for,” the coach said.

Defensively, Madden Kinnee had nine tackles and a fumble recovery, while Price Rosamond had six tackles, one interception and forced a fumble, Dillard had three tackles and caught an interception, sophomore Ronin Burns had two tackles and a fumble recovery, Houy had a tackle and an interception, and Strmiska had a fumble recovery. In all Faith caught three interceptions and recovered three fumbles.

This side of the ball pleased Jay Silvers immensely, and he credited defensive coordinator Garrett Cole and his players for their work.

“Defensively, coach Cole did a great job over there with the scheme,” he said. “The boys are trusting each other, getting better and better, and that’s what we wanted to see. And so against some guys that were literally almost twice the size as some of my secondary guys, and they were making good tackles and making good stops. It was good. That’s the whole working out all summer, the weight room and the training.”

Faith hosts Giddings Lone Star Southeast (3-0) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26.