Faith Academy football loses to Huntsville Alpha Omega

CAPTION: Faith Academy senior Andrew Houy makes the most of his time as a Flame in helping the program win back-to-back district titles and come within a victory of playing for a state title. In four years, the class of 2026 won three district crowns. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team lost to Huntsville Alpha Omega 76-30 Nov. 28 in the Division II semifinals of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.

The Flames (11-2, 3-0) captured the Division II, District 4 title for the second consecutive year with their only loss in the regular season to Fredericksburg Heritage 54-46 Sept. 12.

“We did a lot to ourselves in that game that we just couldn’t overcome,” head coach Jay Silvers said. “They did a really good job of controlling time, they did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage, and they just moved the ball with their running backs. They didn’t pass as much as we thought they would and their running backs were just getting through the holes, their line was blocking well, and we just didn’t have an answer for it. (Our) defense struggled stopping the ball.” 

The Flames got the scoring going in the first quarter when senior Adam Merlick caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Landon Silvers for the 6-0 lead.

The Lions (10-1, 5-0 Division II, District 5 champions) answered with a 15-yard rushing touchdown and converted on the two-point kick for the 8-6 advantage.

“It was back-and-forth,” Jay Silvers said. “We scored first, got down the field pretty easy on a couple good plays and scored on our first defensive series when we created a turnover.”

Landon Silvers called his own number on a 10-yard run to the end zone to retake the lead 12-8.

Alpha Omega answered with a three-yard passing touchdown and the two-point kick for the 16-12 advantage going into the second period.

Merlick added touchdown catch No. 2 thanks to an 10-yard pass from senior Andrew Houy for the 18-16 lead.

But the Lions scored the first of three consecutive touchdowns. The first on an 80-yard kickoff return, the second on a 40-yard touchdown run, and the third on a one-yard run for the 38-18 advantage.

Houy found Merlick for touchdown receptions: 19 and 37 yards. That trimmed the deficit to 38-30 at the intermission.

“On our two-yard line, they fumbled it. We recovered,” the coach said. “(We) had a great pass across the middle to Adam, who broke it up the middle. The kid caught him from behind, and caused Adam to fumble. And that kind of changed how the momentum was going, because we had kind of rocked them back a little bit. They were a much bigger team than we were physically, but we just hit them harder. And when they created that turnover, that kind of sparked a little more life back into them. They got back down the field, scored and got up by two. We went back and scored.” 

Alpha Omega scored three passing touchdowns in the third period and a rushing touchdown about three minutes into the fourth quarter to win the game.

Faith had 457 yards of total offense with 186 coming from its ground attack thanks to 35 carries.

Houy completed 23 of 26 passes for 261 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions and had 14 rushes for 89 yards, while Landon Silvers completed a 10-yard pass, had 19 carries for 99 yards and a score and caught five passes for 35 yards, and junior Wade Dillard caught three pass for nine yards and had an eight-yard run.

Merlick had 11 catches for 177 yards and four touchdowns, while senior Sawyer Jones caught five passes for 50 yards.

“(On) offense, the first half we did OK and then the second half, we just got in our way,” the coach said. “We had the two turnovers I think in the second half, and a lot of miscues – some bumbled snaps that put us back. I think at one point, we had a third down and almost 30 (yards) because of fumbled snaps and trying to find people who were open. They were aggressive. The other team just played better than we did, and we just couldn’t overcome the stuff that was putting us behind the eight ball.” 

Alpha Omega had 463 yards of total offense with 251 coming from its rushing attack thanks to 22 carries. The Lions completed 12 of 17 passes for 212 yards, converted all five of their third-down attempts and did all that with only 9 minutes and 53 seconds of time of possession.

“Their offense came out and hit our guys right in the mouth and just went after them,” Jay Silvers said. “Especially on that run game. They passed the ball a little bit, and they’ve got a 6 (foot) 5 (inch) wide receiver and a 6-2, 6-3, receiver. We put a couple of our taller guys out there to try to cover them. But they’re just really good receivers, and our guys were in the right position.” 

Silvers said this Faith team is “an amazing group of boys that figured out how to be a family.”

“That was the thing that we were pushing for back in June with the seniors,” he said. “I’ve coached Andrew and Sawyer since they were in the fifth and sixth grades in flag football, and then Adam came in junior high and just helped these guys become good leaders. What they did for the team — leading by example, helping those under them and just encouraging those freshmen and sophomores and juniors to step up their game because they were willing to do whatever it took to get there — spread throughout the team. These boys didn’t give up. They fought as a group and fought as a family. Whether they won or whether they lost, they were proud of each other, they stood up for each other and stuck it out. So it’s gonna be hard to replicate a group like this.” 

CAPTION: Faith Academy senior Adam Merlick is another Flame who was hard to defend and refused to be stopped. Photo by Stennis Shotts