Faith Academy football team outruns St. Dominic Savio for 34-14 season-opening win

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

AUSTIN — Faith Academy’s Asa Ortiz broke for a 72-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter against the St. Dominic Savio Eagles to get the Flames rolling to a 34-14 win in the opening game of the season Aug. 30.But he wasn’t alone. The Faith backs ignited for several runs of 15 yards or better.

“Our backs were flying around back there,” Faith head coach Russell Roberts said. Royale Brown, Austin Ellis and Jacob Metcalf all ground out some yardage against the Eagles.

When the Eagles thought it couldn’t get any worse, Faith’s Dalton Mayberry pounded out a few strong runs as well. The Faith backs clearly showed they could get it done on the ground.

In the Flames’ second scoring drive, Metcalf scampered 12 yards on a third-and-two situation from the Eagles’ 27-yard line down to the 15. It set up a Browne run around the end for a 15-yard touchdown with 6:34 left in the first half.

St. Dominic Savio cut into the Faith lead when the Eagles turned in a couple of big plays of their own. Quarterback George Miksch went 32 yards from the Eagles’ 35-yard line. Then Sam Alvarado hit a hole and covered another 20 yards. Miksch capped the drive off with a 12-yard run into the end zone to cut the Faith lead to 14-7.

After that, though, it was all Faith.

The Flames added one more touchdown before halftime thanks again to some strong running. During that drive, Ellis had a 17-yard run, Metcalf added a 22-yard run and Brown raced for a 17-yard run. Ellis capped it of with a three-yard touchdown run.

While the Faith offense was grinding out yards, the defense was keeping St. Dominic Savio out of its end zone. But it wasn’t for lack of trying on the Eagles’ part.

Alvarado’s speed and ability to create something from what appeared to be nothing kept the Eagles in the game. Anytime the junior touched the ball, just about anything could happen. Late in the game, he dodged Faith defenders on his way to a 40-yard run that helped set up the Eagles’ second touchdown of the night.

But it was a little too late for the Eagles.

Before St. Dominic Savio’s late-game drive, Faith had added another two touchdowns, a Metcalf eight-yard run and a Hanner Shipley two-yard shuttle pass to Ellis.

Roberts told the Flames after the match it might not have been the prettiest game, but they won it.

“You make a lot of mistakes your first game,” Roberts said. “The trick is to survive and keep them to a minimum. That’s just what we did. They made some mistakes, too, and I think we capitalized on them.”

The key now, he said, was to address those mistakes so they don’t come back next week.

The Flames host St. Anthony of San Antonio on Sept. 6 at Marble Falls Middle School stadium, 1511 Pony Drive in Marble Falls, at 7:30 p.m.

daniel@thepicayune.com