Faith Academy football, girls basketball moving into bigger, tougher districts
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — Faith Academy is moving up to Class 3A of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools starting with the 2014-2015 school year.
Faith Academy athletic director Jessie Crow announced the results of the TAPPS realignment Oct. 2.
“We did go 3A like we expected we would,” he said. “I think there are some good things.”
The Faith football team (5-0), which has yet to lose during the regular season since moving to 11-man football in 2012, faces some familiar teams in the realigned Division III District 3. The Flames will remain in the same district as Texas School for the Deaf, Temple Holy Trinity and Temple Central Texas Christian. They already have beaten Schertz John Paul II twice in two years, most recently 28-21 on Sept. 27, and will face San Antonio St. Gerard on Oct. 4. They lost to Halletsville Sacred Heart 38-12 in the 2012 playoffs. Shiner St. Paul, whom the Flames have never faced in football, rounds out the new district.
“Our football district got tougher,” Crow said. “That’ll make us better. We feel like that’ll be good for us. It’ll make it easier for (head coach Russ) Roberts for scheduling. This will be a good challenge.”
“TAPPS basically speeded everything up a week,” Roberts said. “They combined Districts 4 and 5. So our opponents in the first round of the playoffs are now district opponents. It’ll make things interesting and more difficult.”
Currently, the Flames play in Division III District 4 and have three district contests. Had Faith not made the move to 11-man football almost two years ago, Crow said TAPPS would have forced the school into 11-man for the 2014 season.
TAPPS decides the football districts based on the average numbers of the boys’ enrollment from September 2012, January 2012 and September 2013. Faith Academy has and average of 65 boys. Division III includes 33 teams, which includes Classes 1A, 2A and 3A, though the Flames won’t face 1A or 2A teams in the postseason.
Roberts said the great unknown right now is how many playoff spots will be up for grabs from each district. Since the new district will be an eight-team district, he believes there is a good chance TAPPS will award four playoff berths.
“If they do that, things haven’t changed much,” he said.
Another consideration are the three wild cards that are awarded to squads that didn’t make the playoffs but whose points are high enough to qualify for the postseason. Points are earned based on the results of the regular season. The better the competition and the stronger the wins, the more points awarded. That’s why Faith has played teams that are members of Division 4 and the University Interscholastic League.
“We have the top wild-card points in the state,” Roberts said. “If we don’t make it through the district process, we’re guaranteed to make it through the wild card. We’ve almost qualified before district play starts.”
The Lady Flames basketball team also has a new district, District 4-3A. Faith will face Texas School for the Deaf, San Juan Diego, Brentwood Christian, Round Rock Christian, Concordia High School and Temple Central Texas Christian. Faith and CTC have been in out of the same district for almost a decade.
“During the last several years, the girls didn’t get a lot of competition in district play,” Crow said. “I think the district play will be pretty good.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com