Faith Academy football team beats Beaumont Legacy Christian
CAPTION: Faith Academy senior Andrew Houy (left) and junior Wade Dillard lead the Flames to the Division II semifinals of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools playoffs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team defeated Beaumont Legacy Christian 68-65 Nov. 22 in the Division II playoffs of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
The Flames (11-1, 3-0 Division II, District 4 champion) will face Huntsville Alpha Omega (9-1, 2-0 Division II, District 5 champion) at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, at Bryan Allen Academy. The Lions defeated Bulverde Bracken (5-7, 2-1 Division II, District 4 runner-up) 56-8.
“It feels great being in the state semifinals,” Faith head coach Jay silvers said. “Nobody’s a slouch that’s left. This is going to be all-out heavy weight fights the rest of the way.”
Trailing 65-60 with 3 minutes and 21 seconds left in the contest, the Flames got the ball and Silvers had a dilemma.
“My offense was scoring in less than a minute in most drives,” he said. “The only drive they stopped us on, we fumbled. So do I risk going quick and giving them the ball back? They were moving the ball pretty good. So do I just run out the clock? And so I chose the latter and went with the let’s just eat clock, get first downs, make them burn all their time outs.”
With a minute remaining, senior Andrew Houy ran to the right, reached the one-yard line fumbled but recovered the ball in the end zone. But a new rule states that offenses can’t move the ball forward on a fumble resulting in the Flames putting the ball back on the one-yard line.
After junior Wade Dillard kneeled the ball at the one-yard twice to force the Warriors to use their final two timeouts, Faith went with its version of the “tush push” with Dillard as the ball carrier and sophomore Landon Silvers and Houy shoving the ball carrier into the end zone with seven seconds left.
The game ended when senior Adam Merlick flushed the quarterback to the right, who ran where Landon Silvers was coming for the sack.
“I kind of felt that way throughout the week, that whomever can just really just take care of the ball and whomever’s gonna get the ball last is probably going to win the game,” Jay Silvers said. “That was really my thought process with that last three-and-a-half minutes is I’m just I’ve got to run the clock out, I can’t give them a chance to mount an offense back there.”
The Flames struck first thanks to senior Sawyer Jones, who scored on a two-yard run. Senior Ben Strmiska connected on the two-point kick for the 8-0 lead.
The Warriors responded with a four-yard touchdown run and a two-point kick to tie the game at 8-8 then added another touchdown on a 12-yard pass for a 16-8 advantage all in the first quarter.
Houy scored on a 26-yard run to tie the contest at 16-16 then added a six-yard touchdown run for the 24-16 lead going into the second quarter.
At that point, the Warriors changed their personnel, opting to go with a quicker lineup that had more agility.
“When they changed their personnel, we had a hard time stopping their run game,” the coach said.
Houy added to the advantage when he hit Jones on a 33-yard touchdown pass and a 32-16 lead. Legacy scored on a one-yard run to trim the deficit to 32-22 at the half.
The Warriors scored on a 30-yard pass to cut into the lead 32-30 to begin the third stanza.
But the Flames struck back thanks to a Houy pass to Merlick for a 40-30 lead.
Legacy responded with a five-yard touchdown to trim the deficit to 40-38.
Once more, Houy threw a touchdown pass. This one went to Landon Silvers, who caught a 43-yard dart and a 48-38 lead.
The Warriors returned the kickoff 80 yards for the touchdown to cut the deficit to 48-44.
Landon Silvers ended the scoring in the third quarter with an eight-yard scamper for a 56-44 advantage.
The Warriors scored a three-yard touchdown and caught a three-point pass to trim the deficit to 54-51 then added a 21-yard run and a two-point kick for a 59-56 lead.
But Houy answered with a 39-yard rushing touchdown to regain the lead 62-59.
Legacy scored its final touchdown on a four-yard run to set up Dillard’s dramatics in the final minutes of the game.
The Flames had 527 yards of total offense with 253 coming from their ground attack on 27 carries.
Houy had 14 rushes for 177 yards and three touchdowns and completed 15 of 22 passes for 274 yards and three scores. Landon Silvers had nine rushes for 73 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 68 yards and a score. Dillard had a one-yard rushing touchdown and had six receptions for 70 yards. Jones caught four passes for 79 yards and a score and had a two-yard run. Merlick finished with two catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.
“It came down to what do they want to attack?” Jay Silvers said. “And we did a good job on our audible calls. If they rushed real hard, we threw it over the top. If they backed up, we’re going to run right at them. And we just had them on their toes. They just didn’t know what to do.”
Junior Price Rosamond led the Flames with 10 tackles followed by Houy with six, sophomores Ronin Burns and Quinton Merlick each had three, sophomore Egan Barnes, Dillard and Adam Merlick each had two, and sophomore Madden Kinnee finished with one.
“This was just too heavyweight fighters just throwing blows, and we ultimately had more athletes on our side is what helped us,” Jay Silvers said. “So on our offense, all six of them can contribute, and that’s what happened. They would try to take something away, and it would leave somebody else open and Sawyer was a big benefit of it, Adam and then Wade because a lot of them are gonna key off on Andrew and Landon and try to keep them wrangled in. I’ve got six guys out there that can do things with the football, and I think ultimately, that’s what it came down to.”
