Marble Falls football hosts state-ranked Stephenville
CAPTION: The Marble Falls offense, including linemen Madden Hernandez (64), Raul Moran (58) and David Molina (52), are bracing to go against another stingy defense. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Marble Falls High School football team welcomes Stephenville at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, to Mustang Stadium.
It’s the Mustangs’ (3-4, 0-1) District 4-4A Division I opener.
The Yellowjackets (6-0), who are ranked No. 2 in the latest Class 4A Division I poll of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, had a bye last week.
“I think they’re a really good football team,” Marble Falls head coach Keri Timmerman said. “We knew that last year going in.”
Stephenville has wins against Midlothian Heritage, Everman, Godley, Abilene Wylie, Class 4A Division II state runner-up Waco La Vega, and Ruston, La., which won three games a year ago in the Louisiana state playoffs.
Statistically, the Yellowjackets are equally good in all phases.
Their defense is allowing an average of 11 points per game and earning 82 tackles, four sacks and recovering around two turnovers a contest.
“They understand the adjustment. When it’s being made, they can be multiple,” Timmerman said. “They’ve got three different fronts that they can get into, but it all turns out to be a version of a 4-2 that they end up in a stack look, or they end up in a 3-4 that turns into a 4-2 defense that turns into six-man front, and they’re very aggressive. But they just fit really well, they’re comfortable in it. They react to the ball, they run to the ball really well.”
Senior defensive lineman Kolton Dearth, who is committed to Army, helps anchor the line of scrimmage. Dearth has 30 tackles, six quarterback hurries, two pass deflections and caused and recovered a fumble.
“He’s really talented,” Timmerman said. “He’s just an athletic, very large man.”
Senior Caleb Taylor, a three-year letterman has 57 tackles, two sacks, six quarterback hurries and two caused fumbles this season. Senior linebacker Hudson Butchee, a three-year letterman, has 55 tackles, three sacks, two quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. Senior Briar Floyd, a three-year letterman, has 42 tackles this season along with a sack, a 30-yard interception and two pass deflections. Senior defensive lineman C. J. Spellmeier has 38 tackles, six sacks and seven quarterback hurries.
“I think they’re sitting at 11 returning starters on defense or at least 11 that have been had significant playing time in the past two years,” the Mustangs coach said. “They’re a really solid defense. They’re comfortable in what they do and are very aggressive in the front. And on the back end, they do a great job keeping things in front of them and tackling things quick. So there’s very limited explosive plays. We looked at it earlier in the week – out of seven games, I think there were seven explosive plays over 15 yards against them, just not many. So that tells you a lot about their defense to say they limit the explosive play, which leads to a lot of wins on their end.”
Marble Falls will counter with senior running back Joaquin Aguilar, who has 89 rushes for 536 yards and eight touchdowns, freshman running back Diego Aguilar, who has 48 carries for 267 yards and two scores, sophomore quarterback Crawford Mattox, who has completed 36 of 77 passes for 355 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions and 46 carries for 169 yards and a touchdown, and senior receiver Kaden Langbein, who has 20 receptions for 229 yards and two scores.
The Stephenville offense is averaging 36 points a game. They scored 52 on Wylie and 64 on La Vega.
“They execute at a very high level,” Timmerman said. “They want to run the football. They’re a physical ground-pound offense, but they just got the ability with their quarterback to extend plays and make some things happen when plays break down. They have skill kids on the edges that can be explosive in one play, so they force you to do what good football teams force you to do. They force you to be fully aware of the entire field. You have to cover all 53 and a third across the edge.”
Junior quarterback Trot Jordan, who is in his first year to start, has completed 72 of 107 passes for 1,238 yards with 15 touchdowns and an interception, has 14 carries for 62 yards and a score, and an 11-yard reception. Junior Tyler McClendon has 76 carries for 753 yards and 11 touchdowns and five catches for 43 yards. Sophomore Carter VanZandt has 58 carries for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Brighton DeVivo has 24 receptions for 503 yards and seven touchdowns.
The coach pointed out the Yellowjackets’ offensive line has a lot to do with unit’s success.
“You’ve still got to manage really, really large bodies in the box that are very, very comfortable running inside zone over and over and over,” he said. “They’re just one of those teams that’s just does a good job with what they have and understanding scheme and being aggressive with it, and then taking advantage of plays down the field when they’re available.”
Marble Falls will rely on seniors Quavyon Alexander, Kaleb Bielfeldt, Brody Graham, Gregory Lemon and Doak Timmerman, who all have at least 40 tackles this season and recorded multiple turnover recoveries, sacks and quarterback hurries.
Marble Falls is entering this game after a 35-14 loss to Burnet last week. Timmerman said he called for a practice on Columbus Day and has been pleased with the preparation.
“We’re obviously recovering from the 281 loss,” he said. “So I was proud of the kids. We definitely had to refocus a little bit, but they’ve done a good job of just showing up and working hard and excited to play a really talented team. And kind of like the same thing we said about La Vernia – how are we going to measure up against somebody that’s got that kind talent, because there’s playoff spots left on the table. We’ve got to gear up to try to go get one. And we’ve got to find a way this week to go be really physical, play cleaner in some areas, way less pre-snap penalties, and just focus on us.”
