Faith Academy, Lutheran football meet in district championship game

CAPTION: Faith Academy sophomore Ronin Burns is known for his ability to make defenses weep. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team welcomes San Antonio Lutheran at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7, to Britton Field.

The game is for the Division II, District 4 championship. If the Flames (8-1, 2-0) win, they will have successfully defended their championship and added their fifth in six years.

The Mustangs (6-3, 1-1) are led by senior quarterback Christian Webb.

“They can throw the ball pretty well and they have a pretty athletic quarterback,” Faith head coach Jay Silvers said. “He does a pretty good job of being able to pull the ball down and run. But if you leave him back there to pass, he can complete passes. He has a good arm. And so we’re just going to have to get in his face and try to disrupt all his passing lanes and try to keep him wrangled in back there.”

Silvers said the Flames’ film study reveals the Lutheran offense relies more on its air attack more than on its ground game.

“It seems that they look to pass the ball more than they want to just straight run the ball,” he said. “If you have the quarterback to do it, it’s not uncommon. But if you don’t have a quarterback that can run and throw, then not nearly as much.”

The coach said what makes Webb dangerous are two big traits of signal callers.

“He has good arm strength and he has very good accuracy,” he said. “When you do apply pressure to him, that kind of disrupts his timing and that’s what we’re going to be trying to do is disrupt all of his timing. It looks like most of the other five guys can catch pretty well.”

Faith will counter with junior Price Rosamond, considered the team’s defensive captain, senior Andrew Houy and sophomores Egan Barnes and Ronin Burns.

While Lutheran may pass more than other offenses, Silvers expressed confidence in the Faith defensive unit and coordinator Garrett Cole.

“It’s nothing we haven’t seen,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re on their guys and covering and staying on their hips, lock in and just get after (Webb) to try to disrupt him.”  

Defensively, the Mustangs have “pretty good size out there,” Silvers said.

The Flames will counter with Houy, junior Wade Dillard and sophomore Landon Silvers. Houy and Silvers run and pass equally well and Dillard has been used as a lead blocker and passer.

Perhaps Faith’s greatest strength is its ability to make in-game adjustments before halftime.

“We just kind of just go at you, and we adjust from there when I need to,” said Jay Silvers, who serves as the program’s offensive coordinator.  

The coach pointed out there’s still plenty to decide as far as playoff seedings. While Faith has already secured one of the three playoff bids, the other two are up for grabs. That’s because of possible outcomes.

If Lutheran beats Faith and San Marcos Academy (1-8, 0-2) beats Bulverde Bracken (3-6, 1-1), every team in the district would have at least one loss. San Marcos Academy would take the final playoff spot because of the head-to-head outcome since both the Chargers and the Bears each lost to Lutheran and Faith.

Meanwhile, a Mustangs victory against the Flames coupled with a Bracken win against San Marcos Academy means splitting the district title three ways. Since the Flames, the Mustangs and the Chargers each beat each other, coaches would use points to determine seedings on which team would enter the playoffs as the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.

Typically the district champion enters the first round of the playoffs as its district No. 1 team and usually gets to host the first postseason game.

CAPTION: The Faith offense starts with a good snap thanks to senior center Sawyer Jones then typically to junior Wade Dillard (12) and finally to senior Andrew Houy. Photo by Stennis Shotts