Marble Falls football works on district to-do list during bye
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — A resounding 35-14 win against Dripping Springs accomplished much on the to-do list for the Marble Falls High School football team.
First, the Mustangs (3-2, 1-1) are right back in the playoff hunt.
“At 0-2, that’s tough,” Marble Falls head coach Matt Green said. “Thank goodness we’re not.”
Second, Marble Falls enters its District 25-5A bye week with two weeks to prepare for Georgetown (4-1, 1-1).
And third, while the Mustangs earned a lopsided win, it was not a perfect game.
The coach has his own to-do list for his players. At the top is spending a lot of time in the weight room and watching film, he said.
One of the focuses for the offense is finishing drives. Since the start of the season, the Mustangs have made 29 trips to the opponents’ 21-yard line. Marble Falls has 19 touchdowns, one made field goal, one missed field goal, one blocked field goal, two turnovers on downs, one interception, two fumbles, one bad snap that ended a drive, and one kneel down.
Those drives don’t count a fumble near the goal line that would have ended one drive and a ball that went through the hands of a receiver in the end zone on fourth down on another drive. In short, those are points left on the field.
Green has called the results of those plays frustrating. So the offense will continue to be drilled on securing the football and making good snaps.
On the other side of the ball, the front seven of the Marble Falls defense clogged the middle against Dripping Springs a week after the Mustangs gave up several runs up to the middle to Cedar Park Vista Ridge. The Tigers’ runs up the middle against Cedar Park is what led to their victory, Green said.
“That was not going to happen,” he said. “We challenged our kids. We told them it’s not a secret what they’re going to come in here and do.”
Green credited the defensive line for setting the tone in the trenches. That allowed the linebackers to make tackles. One drive illustrated the way the game played out for the Marble Falls defense.
Dripping Springs took over at its 39 and threw two incomplete passes. On third-and-25, the Tigers completed a 68-yard reception for first-and-goal. The Mustangs forced two incomplete passes, lineman Ryan Becker sacked quarterback Shep Shepard for a 14-yard loss, and the drive ended with another incomplete pass.
Green credited the defensive coaches and the players for developing and executing an effective game plan.
The Mustangs also used several players in different roles. Becker, who lines up as starting left tackle, played defense. Royale Brown played a little bit of cornerback in addition to his running and receiving duties, and linebacker Chris Carter returned kickoffs and punts. He began the game with about a 45-yard return.
“It set the momentum,” Carter said. “It gave us a good edge. It always feels good to get a win. This week we worked together better. We knew our assignments and did them.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com