Faith Academy football faces Beaumont Christian Legacy
CAPTION: Faith Academy senior Adam Merlick is of several Flames who are bracing for a run-heavy Beaumont Christian Legacy offense. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team will face Beaumont Christian Legacy at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, at Bryan Allen Academy
The contest is in the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
The Warriors (7-3, 1-1 Division II, District 5 runners-up) shut out San Antonio Lutheran (6-5, 1-2 Division II, District 4 third place) 47-0 Nov. 14.
The Flames defeated (10-1, 3-0 Division II, District 4 champion) Wylie Prep 83-36 in a contest that ended deep into the third quarter.
Faith head coach Jay Silvers has spent the week studying Legacy Christian to prepare his players for the Warriors.
“They are just a well-disciplined team,” he said. “They’re a run-heavy team. They’re the only team I’ve seen so far this season that kind of mimics the way our offense runs. They run the ball a little more than we do. They don’t pass very well.”
The top four offensive skills players are junior quarterback Joe Fry, senior Jaden Rizzato, senior Ben Kirkendall “is their big back,” and sophomore running back Tye White “goes out and plays a little more wide receiver, but he will go into the backfield for them.”
Silvers compared the backs to Faith senior Andrew Houy, junior Wade Dillard and sophomore Landon Silvers, who make up the core of the Flames’ offense. Houy and Silvers are known for their speed, Houy for his passing, and Dillard uses his strength to get in front to set blocks and score.
“They have two speed backs and a bigger back kind of matches Andrew, Landon and then Wade,” the coach said. “That’s going to be a pretty good challenge.”
Senior Gannon Sigler “is typically their center” and senior Cade Bryant, who stands 6 feet and 2 inches and weighs 310 pounds, is “the big offensive lineman.”
“He’s definitely the biggest player we’ve seen this year,” Silvers said. “If he gets his hands on you, he’s going to create problems for you. They’re not real flashy. They just have good blockers. They’re just a fundamentally good football running team.”
The Warriors run base plays well and dare defenses to stop them.
The Flames will counter with junior Price Rosamond and sophomores Egan Barnes, Ronin Burns, Madden Kinnee and Quinton Merlick.
The coach called the Legacy Christian defense “very aggressive.”
“They move fast,” he said. “They’ll rush three at times they’ll rush two at times, and sometimes they just rush one. But they are very aggressive. They move fast, and they go to points of contact pretty good. And so for us, we’re just gonna have to use that to our advantage when they’re aggressive. We have short routes that we run right behind them, and we’ll just have to key on those and let Andrew kind of do his thing with that part.”
The Flames are bracing for rain. But Allen Academy has artificial turf, so the sloppiness may come from a wet football or slipping and sliding when running. No matter what the weather brings, Silvers said the keys remain the same.
“Just take care of the ball and just do our jobs,” he said. “That’s I we preach with our offense and defense and special teams – just do your jobs. That’s all we need them to do. Just make sure you do what you’re supposed to do, and we should be fine.”
CAPTION: Faith Academy freshman Jackson Henry makes the most of his playing time as a contributors to what the flames want to do. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
