Marble Falls football to face Lampasas
CAPTION: Marble Falls senior receiver Kaden Langbein has a wall around him during a reception against San Antonio Breckenridge in September. That wall includes linemen David Molina (52), Logan Chapa (53) and Raul Moran (58). Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School football team will play Lampasas at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31, at Badger Stadium inside the city instead of at the high school campus in another District 4-4A Division I showdown.
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The Badgers’ (7-2, 1-2) only losses have been to Stephenville 49-7 last week and to Brownwood 42-39 Oct. 10 to begin district play.
Mustangs head coach Keri Timmerman described some traits of this Lampasas squad that has led to the seven wins.
“I’m going to see a tough, physical, playoff team,” he said. “They’re well coached. (Head coach Troy Rogers has) done a great job with them. They’ve done a good job of developing talent at the lower levels and then keeping that consistent. You see a lot of consistency in their freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams in how they play and then being ready to play up at that next level. They’re able to have enough kids in the roster to develop and also to keep them down to let them play at those lower levels and not have to move them up very often. Year in and year out to have a consistent program, consistent team, means that you’re paying the dividends in the lower areas in your seventh and eighth to ninth grade and JV teams.”
The Lampasas defense averages 1.5 sacks, 68 tackles and two turnovers over per contest in a defensive scheme similar to what La Vernia ran against the Mustangs Sept. 26.
“It’s a testament to their coaches and also the time they’ve been in that system,” Timmerman said. “They sell out to stop the run, but they play really, really aggressive man coverage. They create long down and distances because they’re so aggressive in their front and linebacker play. They want to make you account for everyone with your line and your back and your quarterback. If they can catch you in an empty set or a set where you’re pulling and you’re leaving a gap, they can take advantage of that. It’s just a very aggressive defense and if you can catch them in it, you can have some big plays.”
It is led by junior defensive back Jonathan Bowling, who has 93 tackles, two pass deflections, an interception and a fumble recovery, senior safety Aaron Everts, who has 73 tackles, nine pass deflections and two fumble recoveries, and senior linebacker Corbin Kepler, who has 68 tackles, 3.5 sacks and a fumble recovery,
“They do a good job of just being really, really aggressive,” Timmerman said. “They’re going to try to bring a minimum of six in the box if not seven with their safeties and just try to disrupt your run game. Their players play really, really hard.”
Marble Falls will counter with sophomore quarterback Crawford Mattox, who has completed 43 of 95 passes for 392 yards with three touchdowns and eight interceptions and 57 carries for 204 yards and a score through six games. Senior receivers Atreyu Machacek has 20 receptions for 210 yards and two touchdowns and Kaden Langbein has 20 catches for 229 yards and two scores.
Senior running back Joaquin Aguilar has 95 rushes for 551 yards and eight touchdowns and younger brother Diego, a freshman, has 60 carries for 311 yards and two scores.
“As a quarterback, you’ve got to know where to go with the ball, you’ve got to get it out on time,” the coach said. “A lot of times you/re going to have a free runner somewhere at the receiver position if you get off coverage or a free runner in protection if you don’t take care of the linebackers. It’s a great test for us because we’re going to have to be really sound in our pass protection and in our run game protection and how we run the ball and where we run the ball.”
Offensively, the Badgers are led by senior quarterback Bryson Roberts, a first-year starter, who has completed 112 of 171 passes for 1,465 yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and has 75 carries for 308 yards and two scores.
Senior running back K.J. Reed leads with 121 rushes for 787 yards and 11 receptions for 90 yards and three touchdowns. Senior running back Wesley Stephens has 99 rushes for 672 yards and four touchdowns and five catches for 26 yards.
Senior receiver Jaden McElwain has 46 receptions for 683 yards and seven touchdowns and seven carries for 158 yards and sophomore receiver Kayden Vanpelt has 27 catches for 220 yards and a score and nine carries for 41 yards.
“They’re a pretty balanced team,” Timmerman said. “I would say they’re a little bit more run heavy this year than they’ve been in the past. But no I think that they’re pretty balanced in what they do between the screen game, the run game and the passing game. I think that they try to make sure they take care of things.”
The Mustangs defense is led by several seniors: linebacker Brody Graham has 71 tackles, while defensive back Gregory Lemon has 67 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery, and linebacker Doak Timmerhave has 57 tackles and two fumble recoveries, and defensive end Kaleb Bielfeldt has five sacks and an interception in eight games.
The coach believes this contest will be similar to the others – a hard-fought, well-played contest.
“We’re going to see a playoff team that’s going to help us prepare for post district,” he said. “We’re trying to go find a win against Lampasas and take of business on Friday and then try to secure it against Brownwood the following week.”
CAPTION: Marble Falls senior running back Joaquin Aguilar has performed like a three-year veteran in leading the rushing attack. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
