Faith Academy football faces run-oriented The Woodlands Christian Academy
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — After an open week, the Faith Academy football team is ready to start the next part of its season.
The Flames (10-0, 3-0 in Division III, District 3) host The Woodlands Christian Academy (6-4, 3-2) during a first-round playoff game of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. That contest is 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at Pony Stadium on the Marble Falls Middle School campus, 1511 Pony Circle Drive.
The Warriors are led by senior Michael Sacks, who has completed 18 of 29 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown, rushed 50 times for 230 yards and five touchdowns, and caught six passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns.[box]GAMETIME
Faith Academy Flames vs. The Woodlands Christian Academy
KICKOFF: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15
WHERE: Pony Stadium on the Marble Falls Middle School campus, 1511 Pony Circle Drive in Marble Falls[/box]
Sophomore Luke Hudson has 105 rushes for 908 yards and 15 touchdowns, and junior receiver Dirk Sanford has 21 receptions for 352 yards and two touchdowns.
“Their quarterback runs as much as he throws,” Faith head coach Russ Roberts said. “They’re a little more run-oriented than pass-oriented. They have a couple of pretty good-sized backs, who appear to pose threats.”
Defensively, the Warriors use players with a lot of speed, Roberts said.
He compared The Woodlands Christian Academy to Austin St. Anthony’s of San Antonio when it comes to confidence and St. Mary’s Hall of San Antonio and Schertz John Paul II when it comes to running the football.
“That Houston district is more run-oriented than we had been told,” Roberts said. “They look like they go to the quarterback a lot.”
During the open week, Roberts said coaches put the players through a long list drills for four days.
“I think we spent most of our time working on fundamentals,” he said. “We tried to work on blocking and catching and tackling and throwing. We did work on attitude. There was some mental stuff. But we didn’t hit.”
The Flames also fined-tuned their base offense and defense and added “new wrinkles” to the offense and special teams, Roberts said.
Why?
“Because that’s how you win games,” he said. “I’m convinced the success we’ve had in two years has been because we spend as much time as we can on the basic fundamentals.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com