Faith Academy facing former six-man champion Boerne Geneva

JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER

MARBLE FALLS — The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team is looking for a bounce-back game after a 49-0 loss to Austin St. Andrew’s on Aug. 28.

Enter Boerne Geneva (1-0), a football program that made the jump to 11-man this season after winning the Division I six-man championship of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools last year.

The two scrimmaged in August.

The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Pony Stadium on the Marble Falls Middle School campus, 1511 Pony Circle Drive. 

Geneva defeated East Austin College Prep 45-0 on Aug. 29.

Fans who enjoy six-man football will see plenty of those tendencies by Geneva, Faith head coach Randy Denton said.

“They run a lot of the same stuff you’d see — crossing routes, quick plays and misdirection and stuff like you’d see coming into six-man,” he said. “But they’re pretty much wide-open spread. They’ll run hurry-up. Advantage for us is we’ve seen it, so we’ll be a little more prepared for it. They’re going to try to score quick and run their little screen passes and their misdirection and hope they can break one on the outside.”

Geneva is led by quarterbacks sophomore Will Langenbach and junior Willis Harpole. Other notable Eagles include senior running backs Colton Brehm and Hayden Bomgaars, senior receiver Caleb Hohne, junior receiver Tyler Navarro, senior lineman Hunter Harmon, junior lineman Jacob Schroeder and sophomore lineman Zach Akin.

“They don’t have a lot of size,” Denton said. “But they’ve got some good athletes, and they’ve got some speed and they can definitely make things difficult for us with their speed if we don’t take care of our assignments.” 

The Flames coach said he believes Geneva will be patient defensively to look for opportunities to take the ball away.

“They rely a lot on speed. They’ll bring pressure from the edge,” he said. “They don’t really pack it inside as much as you would think. But they really rely on their athleticism and their speed. So we’re going to make some adjustments and probably have a little more power look this week and hopefully take advantage of … a size advantage.”

Denton believes this being a home game will offer some comfort since so many new starters will be playing. Senior Rich Coleman is expected to take all the snaps against Geneva, and other athletes might be in new positions.

“We got a lot of new pieces and parts,” he said. “A lot of kids haven’t played a lot of football or any football. Those guys are improving every time they step out on the field, so any experience they can get is going to help us in the future.”

Despite the opening-season loss, Denton commended his players for their willingness to play different spots and attend each practice with the proper mindset.

“Our guys, they haven’t quit,” he said. “The guys have come out with a good attitude, they’re working hard. The intensity has been high, the work has been good. So I’m proud of our kids for packing their lunch and coming back to work.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com