Marble Falls football to play in 7 on 7 state qualifier

CAPTION: Junior Braxton Dicken leaps to get a hand on the ball to ensure it falls incomplete. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School football program will participate in two 7-on-7 events as the Mustangs look to begin their summer work.

The first is the Burnet State Qualifier Tournament Saturday, May 30, at Bulldog Field.

The other is the Llano June League at 5 p.m. each Monday for four weeks beginning June 1 at Llano Stadium.

In the state qualifying tournament, the Mustangs, who are in pool B, will play Fredericksburg at 9 a.m., Wimberley at 10:30 a.m. and Burnet at noon. Pool A consists of Austin LBJ, Bandera, Lago Vista and Llano. The pool winners will meet in the championship at 1:45 p.m. to decide the tournament champion and the state tournament berth.

The Llano league includes Burnet, San Saba and the Yellow Jackets. Each team will play two games a week.

The Mustangs just finished the Burnet May league that featured junior quarterbacks Crawford Mattox and Anderson Liscum alternating each series against Burnet and Llano. Sophomore quarterback Gage Goebel was leading the junior varsity offense.

“I was very pleased with our kids,” head coach Keri Timmerman said. “One of the things that we really view 7 on 7 as is a chance just to watch our kids, shake off the spring rust and get out and actually work against other competition. We had baseball kids trying to make a run (in the Class 4A Division I playoffs), and so we don’t have them in the (athletic) period to throw and catch the football. So watching Crawford and Anderson and Gage come out and just have some confidence.”

Timmerman noted the players are in year two of the scheme and witnessing the reads and the decisions they’re making illustrates “understanding what we do in the passing game.”

“And really trying to evaluate what they like, what they’re looking at,” he said. “I thought they did a really good job.”

He agreed that the work in the weight room was evident.

“I think they’re stronger for sure,” the coach said. “I think that timing is definitely improving for all three of them. I think understanding, just the idea of when to let the ball go and what that feels like – we’re always going to work on improving the deep ball a little bit because you have to be able to take shots down the field to keep a defense honest and make some big plays. But yeah, I think that they all threw a little bit better and a little bit cleaner. We still got a lot to work on and like I said, I’m not worried about it. I feel like we’re where we need to be, I think they did some really good things. We have some young receivers that are trying to figure out what that feels like with them on the field, which we have to get more touches on over the summer, but I think (our quarterbacks) are throwing well and throwing with confidence. “

Though the quarterbacks are returning, the Mustangs’ top two receivers in statistics graduated. The third-leading receiver, junior Olen Dalton, has been making catches in traffic, especially in the red zone. The other who is emerging is senior Gage Coleman. All of that illustrates their understanding of the scheme, where they fit and where to go in each play.

“Timing is a big thing, just understanding the the timing to release a ball and when and where to release it to lead a receiver and how to help lead him away from coverage and some other things,” Timmerman said. “I think quarterbacks should understand that but also think that takes receivers understanding windows and where to speed up, where to slow down, where hesitation holds to give him room to throw to landmarks. They’re all getting a lot more comfortable with that now.”

The head coach was equally enthusiastic about the defensive players working in new defensive coordinator Taylor Wolfe’s scheme. Wolfe, who spent 15 years at China Spring, was standing in the end zone observing the Mustangs play defense for the last night of the Burnet league May 22.

“I’m excited to watch our kids working coach Wolfe’s defense and move around and just kind of find some pieces and figure out where people fit,” Timmerman said. “And I think really for us, that’s what 7 on 7 is really about is just finding where everybody fits and giving us some things to work on as we walk into summer.”

CAPTION: Senior Gage Coleman is emerging as a reliable and sure handed receiver.