Faith Academy football beats Fredericksburg Heritage

CAPTION: Faith Academy junior Landon Silvers continues to power the Flames’ offense. He either ran or passed on every Flames touchdown, all five, in the win against Fredericksburg Heritage. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team defeated Fredericksburg Heritage 32-30 Sept. 11 to snap a two-game losing skid to the Eagles.

Trailing by two points, Heritage recovered the onside kick and looked to take the lead toward the end of the game.

“We just misplayed it, but defense stepped up,” Faith head coach Jay Silvers said. “They had a pretty big penalty. They had a blind crack back block — a big penalty there — and that really pushed them back.”

That type of penalty is typically done by a receiver to a defensive back who is blindsided by the block. It is thought of as a helpless player, resulting in a 15-yard penalty.

“It was third and five, and then they got that penalty to put them in third and 20,” Silvers said. “They had about 20 seconds left on the clock.”

Realizing what needed to happen, the Eagles (2-1) decided to go deep. Faith senior defensive captain Price Rosemond also realized what was happening and made the play.

“Price had a good pass breakup,” the coach said. “And then they overthrew one in the end zone. So defense stepped up and played a great game.”

The Flames (2-2) led from the start and their defense set the tone by forcing the Eagles to give the ball back to Faith on the first possession of the contest.

“Defense shut them down,” Jay Silvers said. “We got the ball off and took it down the field and scored and defense didn’t give up. I don’t think we gave up a touchdown in the first quarter, and we scored twice, and so we had a 12-0 lead I think after the first quarter. They finally scored and then we scored again and then shut him down before half.”

Junior Landon Silvers had a 40-yard rushing touchdown and then passed to Graham McGraw for a 12-0 lead after the opening stanza.

Heritage scored on a rushing touchdown to trim the deficit to 12-8 in the second quarter.

But the younger Silvers hit Hudson Tatum on 13-yard touchdown pass, allowing the Flames to take an 18-8 at the intermission.

Faith received the opening kickoff and picked up right where it ended the first half – with another score for a 26-8 advantage thanks to a Silvers five-yard rushing touchdown and an Egan Barnes two-point kick.

Heritage responded with its own rushing touchdown though the Eagles missed the two-point to trim the deficit to 26-14, its defense clamped down on the Flames, and Heritage added a passing touchdown to trail 26-22.

“Our offense kind of ran into some problems with incomplete passes,” the elder Silvers said. “They got a few stops on us in a row and then they scored a couple in a row.”

Landon Silvers answered with a 55-yard rushing touchdown for the 32-22 lead, but the Eagles scored on a rushing touchdown to trim it to a two-point game and set up the final Heritage offensive series.

The Flames are on a two-game winning streak after starting the season with two losses.

“Overall, I felt like we’ve gotten better every week,” the coach said. “Defense has gotten better every week, offense is moving the ball pretty good, we’re trying a lot of different things. And a lot of that’s my play calling because I want to try things and see if we I can get it done. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. And there were a couple times where it didn’t work for a couple plays in a row, and it kind of put a lot of pressure on our guys there in the backfield. But they played great, everybody across the board. Special teams did a great job (and) still need a lot of work in that area. But they got better and then defense is really starting to step it up and offense is doing a good job.”

Faith welcomes Medina at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, for its homecoming game. The Bobcats (3-0) beat Leander Founders Classical 62-14 Sept. 11, Lometa 71-70 Sept. 5 and The Christian School of Castle Hills 68-18 Aug. 29.

CAPTION: Hudson Tatum had a big touchdown reception in the second quarter to give the Flames an 18-8 lead at halftime. Photo by Stennis Shotts