Marble Falls football loses to Fredericksburg
A defensive battle led to a 14-3 Fredericksburg win over the Marble Falls High School Football team Sept. 11.
“I thought defensively we played really well,” Mustangs head coach Keri Timmerman said. “You talk about a 6-3 game all night. Multiple times we just made plays going off of defense.”
The Mustangs (1-2) struck first. On their second possession, they covered 62 yards in 12 plays in 5 minutes and 38 seconds that ended with a 23-yard field goal by senior kicker Jett Marcum for the 3-0 advantage, which is how the opening stanza ended.
“Obviously on that drive, we did some really good things,” Timmerman said. “They were really good, they’re a good defense because they’ve been playing the same defense for a long time, and they adjusted well to us.”
The Billies (2-1) caught the first of three interceptions with under a minute left in the first quarter. By the time the drive ended Fredericksburg led 6-3 thanks to a nine-yard run by junior running back Cody Helmers. A bad snap on the extra point kept the score 6-3 with 7:53 remaining in the second period.
Fredericksburg caught a second interception about two-and-a-half minutes later to set up first and goal on the Marble Falls 10-yard line.
The Mustang defense sacked junior quarterback KressMohr on first down, Marcum deflected the pass in the end zone on second down, and senior defensive lineman Christian Cervantes sacked Mohr using one arm on third down to push the Billies back to their 20-yard line. On fourth down, they faked going for a 39-yard field goal, but the Mustangs weren’t fooled and took over on their own 16-yard line with 3:17 left in the half.
After the Billies forced the Mustangs to punt, Fredericksburg was awarded a first down on a defensive hold, threw incomplete when the receiver lost the ball in the lights, and senior linebacker Arnulfo Salazar, junior defensive lineman Anthony Slanina and Cervantes sacked Mohr on third down. On fourth and 19, the Billies called for a halfback option pass, but the ball was overthrown.
Marble Flls took over with 41 seconds left and ran two plays.
The Billies got the ball to start the third quarter. After a first down and an eight-yard run, they were called for a false start on third-and-two near midfield. The pass was dropped on third down and the ball sailed over the punter’s head on fourth down, but most of the Mustangs were in the opposite direction to set up blocking.
A Marble Falls penalty on the punt put the Mustangs on their three-yard line. But runs by Mattox, junior athlete Hudson Salyers and sophomore running back Diego Aguilar steadily moved the ball to the Fredericksburg 43-yard line. But the Mustangs were called for a false start, throwing them off schedule, which hadn’t happened until they had first and 10 on the 43. The pass on first and 15 was in the turf and offsetting penalties — offensive holding and defensive pass interference — meant replaying second down. Mattox ran for three years and Aguilar ran for nine to reach the Billies 36-yard line on fourth-and-three. But the Mustangs were called for delay of game. The pass on fourth and eight was almost intercepted.
But the Mustang defense didn’t flinch. It forced a punt and a turnover on downs when the Billies caught their final interception.
After Marble Falls punted, the Billies took over on their 15-yard line with 7:45 left in the contest. They moved the ball by converting on 12 plays, 11 passing, and overcame fourth-and-12 with a 17-yard pass. The drive ended when Mohr scored on a one-yard touchdown run and the Mustangs were called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Mohr hit junior Chapel Herber on the two-point pass for the 14-3 lead with 3:22 remaining in the contest.
The Mustangs started their final offensive series on their 46-yard line and reached the Fredericksburg 25-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.
The Billies had 195 yards of total offense with 77 yards on the ground. Mohr completed 14 of 27 passes for 118 yards and had five carries for five yards. Sophomore running back Christian Bermudez had six carries for 43 yards, while Helmers had seven rushes for 25 yards and a touchdown.
Marble Falls had 157 yards of total offense all unofficial. Salyers had 13 rushes for 54 yards, while Mattox had 12 carries for 69 yards and Aguilar had eight rushes for 27 yards.
Timmerman noted the Billies added an extra defender in the box, who disrupted the offense’s run-pass options and the interceptions didn’t help. He liked way the Mustangs started the third quarter and pointed out how the penalty derailed the drive.
“That’s one of the things we have to work on is not putting ourselves in deeper holes,” he said. “And then we have to be clean. I think there were some miscues tonight that we have to cleanup. I think that the backs did a good job of getting downhill and getting vertical. But that’s a heavy running game for those guys. We have to clean up things in the passing game and just make some simple catches here and there.”
He emphasized the effort is there.
“Our kids played really hard,” he said. “I thought we were in it till the last down and driving. We still felt like we were going to hit something big real quick, and we had some opportunities to do that, and then go on side and tie it up with a field goal from Jett. But credit to Fredericksburg. They did a great job managing the game at the end with their quarterback, making some plays on fourth down. Our defense did a really good job of standing tall and not letting the pressure get to them, but it’s just hard. They’re a team that can score and do some damage in the back end. And I thought we did a really good job of holding those edges, and keeping them contained for 90 percent of the game. I’m proud of the kids. I have to do a better job of getting points on the board.”
