Marble Falls football loses to La Vernia

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior running back Joaquin Aguilar (left) and sophomore quarterback Anderson Liscum led the Mustangs on their longest scoring drive of night against La Vernia. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School football team lost to La Vernia 63-21 Sept. 26 for the Mustangs’ first road loss this season.

The Bears (5-0) got a short field thanks to a solid kickoff return to start the game. La Vernia needed three plays to score highlighted by junior quarterback Cooper Null’s eight-yard run to the end zone. Senior Lane Green added the extra point for the 7-0 lead with 10 minutes and 19 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The Mustangs (2-3) answered on their opening drive. Sophomore quarterback Crawford Mattox returned to engineer the 10-play, 71-yard drive in 10 plays. He completed passes to senior receiver Atreyu Machacek, called his own number for a short gain, and completed a 48-yard pass to sophomore tight end Olen Dalton to set up Marble Falls at the La Vernia 17-yard line. The drive ended when senior running back Joaquin Aguilar scored from six yards out. He added the extra point to tie the contest at 7-7 with 4:59 left in the quarter.

La Vernia got the score back on the next drive, going 66 yards in three plays that ended when senior receiver Peyton Stahl caught the ball in the end zone from 26 yards out from Null for the 14-7 advantage with 3:47 left in the quarter.

After a three-and-out by the Mustangs, the Bears needed only 77 seconds to score thanks to another solid kickoff return to set up the offense on the Marble Falls 37-yard line.

Junior running back Ty Carter ran for 16 yards on first down and fumbled on second down only to have Null pick it up and get a three-yard gain. Null then found sophomore Corbin McGraw for the 18-yard touchdown for the 21-7 lead with 1:28 remaining in the period.

After La Vernia junior Matthew Lindsey’s interception, La Vernia took over at its own 45. A holding call pushed the Bears 10 yards back then sophomore linebacker Christian Cervantes-Maurico sacked Null for a 13-yard loss. On second and 33 on La Vernia’s 22-yard line, senior defensive end Kaleb Bielfeldt got to Null again to force third and 33.

Knowing the Bears needed to pass, Bielfeldt timed his movement, caught the interception and came within a yard of scoring.

Instead, the Mustang offense took over on the La Vernia one-yard line. The Mustangs were called for a delay of game on first down. Senior fullback Doak Timmerman ran for two yards and three yards in the unit’s “Wild Mustang” package to set up third and goal on the one-yard line. A false start moved the Mustangs back to the six-yard line. Timmerman ran for a yard and then pushed his way into the end zone for the five-yard score to cut into the deficit 21-14 with 8:26 left in the half.

La Vernia returned the favor by covering 80 yards in six plays on a drive that ended when junior Wyatt Frank leapt to catch the 36-yard touchdown pass from Null for the 28-14 lead with 5:51 remaining in the second quarter.

After a Marble Falls punt, Null ran 60 yards to paydirt and a 35-14 advantage with 4:04 remaining in the half.

The Mustangs took over at their own 25-yard line thanks to the ball rolling and stopping on the goal line for the touchback. After a six-yard Aguilar run, Mattox ran for 38 yards to the La Vernia 31-yard line. Aguilar ran for seven yards and Machacek caught a five-yard pass to give the Mustangs first and 10 on the Bears’ 19-yard line. After Aguilar gained three years on a swing pass and a one-yard run and Machacek earned a yard on a reverse, the drive ended when a pass was knocked away in the end zone. The drive took eight plays.

The Bears took over at their own 14-yard line and called for running plays to end the half with a 35-14 lead.

La Vernia began the third quarter with an onside kick, but sophomore Clayton Thompson recovered it to set up the Mustangs at their own 45-yard line.

On first down, Vincent Capparelli intercepted the pass to give the Bears a first down on their own 44.

La Vernia went with a heavy dose of Carter most of the second half.

Of the nine Bears plays, Carter got the call on eight, running for 50 of the 56 yards on the drive, including the touchdown on third and goal from the two-yard line. Though Carter was stood up by the Mustangs, senior offensive lineman Coy Hollingsworth pushed him into the end zone and the 42-14 lead with 7:32 left in the third stanza.

The Bears forced another punt and took over at their own 45. Opting to keep the ball on the ground, Carter took handoffs on all three plays during the drive that ended when he scampered to pay dirt from 41 yards out for the 42-14 advantage with 3:15 left in the quarter.

After a Marble Falls punt, Carter completed the four-play, 57-yard drive that finished when he ran for a 38-yard touchdown and the 49-14 lead with 11:47 left in the contest.

The Mustangs began the drive on their own 25 with sophomore Anderson Liscum at quarterback. Marble Falls used a mix of Aguilar’s runs and Liscum’s passes to junior receiver Gage Coleman and Machacek to move the ball. Liscum ran for six yards while Diego Aguilar, Joaquin’s younger brother, ran for nine yards, 10 yards, 10 yards, 13 yards and the six-yard score to cut into the deficit 56-21 with 6:14 remaining in the game. The drive took 15 plays and 5:33.

La Vernia began its drive on the Marble Falls 44-yard line and gave the ball to Riley Salmon, who ran for 10 yards, five yards, five yards and the 24-yard touchdown to give the Bears a 63-21 victory.

Diego Aguilar led the Mustangs with five rushes for 43 yards and a score, while Joaquin Aguilar had 12 rushes for 37 yards and a touchdown, and Timmerman had four carries for 11 yards and a score.

Mattox completed 8 of 18 passes for 87 yards and had seven rushes for 36 yards and Liscum completed 2 of 6 passes for 11 yards and had four carries for 9 yards. Dalton had a 48-yard reception and Machacek had six catches for 40 yards.

Marble Falls had 16 carries for 76 yards and completed 8 of 14 passes for 87 yards for 163 yards of total offense in the first half, 224 yards the entire game. All Marble Falls stats are unofficial.

Null completed 5 of 7 passes for 128 yards, three touchdowns and one interception and had nine carries for 121 yards and two scores, while Carter had 19 carries for 187 yards and a three touchdowns and Salmon finished with four carries for 44 yards and a score. Frank caught three passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.

As a team, La Vernia had 513 yards of total offense.

Marble Falls welcomes Devine at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, at Mustang Stadium in its final pre-district contest.