Marble Falls football hosts Lockhart
CAPTION: The Mustangs’ offense will unveil several weapons when the Lockhart Lions come for the season opener. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School football team welcomes Lockhart at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, in the season opener for both teams.
The Mustangs are looking to win their third consecutive season opener dating back to the 2024 campaign when they faced Austin Crockett.
The Lions finished 1-9 last season under head coach Mike Maldonado, who is starting his second season. He was the defensive coordinator at Leander Rouse in 2024.
Offensively, Lockhart is led by junior quarterback Noah Jaimes, who is back for a second year and is known for his ability to throw the ball all over the field.
He has four targets at receiver who each bring something different.
Demonte Anthony, who was a first team all-district selection as a freshman last season, is referred to as the premier playmaker.
The others are seniors and two are regional track qualifiers.
They are Bob Estrada, who is known for his speed, and Kaidyn Roland-Brite, the team’s deep threat. Estrada played safety in 2025 and Roland-Brite was a running back.
The receiver known for his veteran leadership and steady experience is George McGee. He’ll line up opposite of Anthony.
“They’re a team that you have to contain vertically and you have to contain the run game,” Marble Falls head coach Timmerman said. “That’s always hard because you want to commit to the box, but then you also want your coverage to be able to maintain leverage and stay on top of big shots, so I think they’ve got a good game plan that fits them. They’re going to be pretty simple offensively and try to get the ball to their playmakers out in space with a lot of quick screens, a lot of 11 (one running back, one tight end, three receivers) or 10 personnel (one running back without a tight end and four receivers).”
The Mustangs will unveil a new scheme under the direction of defensive coordinator Taylor Wolfe. Junior defensive back Clayton Thompson had 53 tackles and senior linebacker Branson Bunting had 37 tackles all last season.
Timmerman has watched this unit the last several weeks and commended that side of the ball for learning and putting it on the field.
“I think coach Wolfe’s done a really good job of putting our kids in the right positions and helping them be aggressive on decision-making,” he said. “And I think that’s where we’ve seen some success is just kids being competent and rallying to the ball and the ability to correct our scheme quickly.”
Defensively, the Lions lean heavily on four upperclassmen.
All-district noseguard Julian Benavidez is used to stop the run, defensive end David Seaver serves as Lockhart’s primary pass rusher, and cornerback Wes Abel’s ability to find the ball makes him dangerous for interceptions and tackles. All three are seniors. At linebacker is junior Romero Juarez, who is thought of as the leader of that room and is returning from a season-ending injury in 2025.
“They’re basically running a version of the 4-3 (four linemen and three linebackers defense) that could be considered a 4-2-5 (four linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs), depending on how they’re playing. We’ll find out a little bit more on Friday, but I think their back end does a good job of keeping the lid on the roof and not let big shots run by. Their safeties are really aggressive.”
The Mustangs, too, have some offensive returners. They are junior quarterback Crawford Mattox, who completed 75 of 152 passes for 740 yards and four touchdowns and had 86 carries for 209 yards and three touchdowns in eight games, sophomore running back Diego Aguilar, who had 66 rushes for 344 yards and two scores, and senior linemen Madden Hernandez and Logan Chapa.
Hernandez and Chapa anchor the line that includes juniors Jaxson Bales and Juan Neve and senior Jesse Hill.
“Feel like the line is really starting to click and coming together,” Timmerman said.
Perhaps no team better prepared the Mustangs for what they’ll be facing than San Antonio Davenport in the final scrimmage of the season Aug. 20.
“They’re a really strong football team,” Timmerman said. “It’s kind of a playoff-ready scrimmage. They’re a team that just constantly shows up year after year. And so I thought for our kids, it was a really good matchup. It showed us a lot about who we are, where we are. I think we played them really well in the controlled scrimmage.”
He noted the Wolves tested the Mustangs defense.
“I think we had some big shots taken on us in the live portion, and so that gave our kids a chance to regroup and go ‘OK, was that technique or was that ability? And then their coach’s corrections?'” he said. “So I think it was just a good measure of kind of getting us ready for a first week opponent.”
Still, they didn’t break, ensuring the live portion ended without either team scoring.
Senior kicker Jett Marcum connected on a field goal to put the Mustangs on the scoreboard during the controlled portion.
The coach commended his players and coaches for making every minute of August training camp count.
“I think our kids did a really good job of utilizing and preparing during our two-a-days,” he said. “I thought we had good install. I thought we had a good plan. I thought our practices were pretty crisp and had some opportunity for all of our kids to get ready to play, good evaluation time. I think we’re all ready to hit somebody else for real finally.”
