Marble Falls loses to Boerne Champion in penalty-plagued performance
Marble Falls High School sophomore quarterback Brennen Wooten runs 75 yards for a touchdown against Boerne Champion on Sept. 20 at Mustang Stadium.
JARED FIELDS • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — On a rainy night at Mustang Stadium, the Marble Falls football team started slow and never recovered in a 59-37 loss to Boerne Champion.
The Chargers (3-0) pulled out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Drive-killing penalties and missed opportunities plagued the Mustangs (2-2) all game long.
“We just did not play well enough in the first half,” Mustangs head coach Todd Dodge said. “I don’t believe they’re that much (better), we just didn’t play well enough. We had players that absolutely fought their tails off, and that’s my message to our team.”
Senior wide receiver Garrett Gray scored the Mustangs’ first touchdown off a 44-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Brennen Wooten in the first quarter to close the score to 21-9.
Boerne Champion, however, scored 21 straight points after that to stretch the lead to 42-9.
Chargers’ running back Travis Pospisil ran for 305 yards on 24 attempts and scored three touchdowns. Pospisil also caught five passes for 33 yards and three receiving touchdowns.
The Mustangs fought back with touchdown plays of 75, 12, 74 and 35 yards but could not overcome costly penalties.
Marble Falls faced a fourth-and-57 situation on its opening drive of the second half. On an ensuing drive, the Mustangs recorded 93 yards of offense on 16 plays and had two touchdowns called back because of penalties. The drive included 68 yards lost to penalties or negative plays and occurred between the Boerne Champion 46- and 16-yard lines.
Wooten finished the game with 339 yards passing on 20-of-36 attempts, unofficially. Gray led all receivers with 134 yards receiving on seven catches. Senior receiver J.T. Watson had six catches for 126 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown from Wooten.
Senior running back Keith Jerome rushed for 78 yards on six attempts, including a 74-yard touchdown. Wooten rushed 13 times for 86 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown run.
While it didn’t match last year’s record-setting offensive performance, Champion’s offense racked up 566 yards of total offense, while Marble Falls accounted for 505 yards.
“If my thoughts were that I had never seen them do it, I may have the attitude that we just aren’t very good and we just can’t get it done,” Dodge said of his team’s performance. “But it’s not the case. I’ve seen (our players) making the mistakes they’re making get it done before and we just gotta make up our mind that we’re gonna get better.”
The Mustangs have a bye week to prepare for their next matchup. Marble Falls travels to Gupton Stadium, 200 Gupton Way Drive, to play Cedar Park on Oct. 4. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
jared@thepicayune.com