Inexperience, turnovers hurt Faith Academy in opening loss

JARED FIELDS • PICAYUNE STAFF

MARBLE FALLS — The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team lost its first regular season game since 2011, ending a 21-game streak, to St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, 32-0, on Aug. 29 at Pony Stadium.

Turnovers, fumbles and penalties plagued the Flames (0-1) throughout the game.

Despite the loss, the Flames begin the season with a relatively young team without much returning experience.

“I thought they banded together,” head coach Russ Roberts said of his team. “We had kids step up. A quarterback volunteered to play center. A running back volunteered to play defensive tackle. I saw a lot of things.”

The Flames gave up some early scores but stood up to the Crusaders (1-0) as the game progressed.

After the game, Roberts said he asked his team what needed to be done to improve.

“The kids said they want to run more, do more tackling drills and work on playing more intense,” he said. “That’s what the players told me; I think it sounds great.”

The Flames travel to Iola for their next game Sept. 5 for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

jared@thepicayune.com