Marble Falls football focuses on Boerne after win, spotlight

JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER

MARBLE FALLS — The Marble Falls High School football team will face a confident Boerne High squad Sept. 11.

The good news is the Mustangs (1-1) are entering the contest with their own confidence after a 15-9 victory against San Antonio John Jay on Sept. 4 that threw the Mustangs into the national spotlight after two John Jay players appeared to intentionally hit a referee as the game clock wound down.

The Mustangs opened the season with a 30-15 loss to Burnet on Aug. 28.

The game against Boerne kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Boerne Independent School District Stadium, 1 Greyhound Lane in Boerne. Listen to the contest on KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune or at KBEYFM.com starting with a pre-game show at 6:30 p.m.

The Greyhounds (2-0) defeated Medina Valley 28-21 on Sept. 4 and Hondo 41-0 on Aug. 28. Boerne and Medina Valley played to a 21-21 tie at the half, a score that held until the Greyhounds’ final drive when junior running back Nick Novack scored on a one-yard scamper with 46 seconds left in the game.

Marble Falls head coach Matt Green said the Boerne offense utilizes multiple offensive players, just like Burnet, and a dual-threat quarterback who makes the offense go, just like Jay.

“Boerne is a very, very good football team,” he said. “The thing you don’t like looking at them as the opposing coach is they throw the football. They have very talented receivers and quarterbacks, much like we saw with Burnet.”

Boerne is led by new starting quarterback junior Will McClure, who has completed 36 of 49 passes for 464 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions and has 18 rushes for 65 yards and two touchdowns. McClure was the 2014 District 14-4A Division I newcomer of the year in 2014. Novak has 27 rushes for 135 yards and three touchdowns.

“Based on the film we’ve seen, they are a pass-first team,” Green said. “In spread attacks, sometimes they’re 50-50, but they have not in the first two games gone in and established a power running game. That doesn’t mean that Friday night they’re not going to come out and do that. But they do appear to be a team that’s going to line up and throw the football.”

Boerne’s defense is led by all-district senior defensive tackle Brady Krueger. Junior defensive backs Hayden Levada and Jared Graybill are back to lead a veteran secondary.

“If you look at them on the defensive side of the football, they are very sound,” Green said. “You’re not going to trick them, you’re not going to fool them, you’re not going to get them to play lazy. They are going to line up, they’re going to line up right and they’re going to play hard every play. So that’s always a challenge.”

Marble Falls will counter with junior quarterback Cade Cool. So far this season, he has completed 19 of 38 passes for 235 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and has 19 carries for 62 yards and a score. Senior receiver Eric Cauble has four receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown, while junior running back Dalton Mayberry has seven catches for 68 yards and a touchdown and 12 rushes for 62 yards. Junior running back Sam Harkins has 17 rushes for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Green noted Cool’s interceptions came against Burnet, and the passing game looked better against Jay. The biggest factors right now are eliminating turnovers (three fumbles lost in two games) and penalties (24 for 190 yards in two contests).

“Our offense has work to do. We have to get better,” he said. “Our offense is not close to hitting on all cylinders. Again, how do you get the youth and inexperience out of kids? There’s no way to do it other than to let them play games. The more games they get under their belts, the better they’re going to get. That being said, I saw improvement last week. That’s what we have to see this week.”

The Mustangs coach said the week of Labor Day is always a challenge because the routine is off. Add to that some unexpected visitors — out-of-town reporters who came to the Marble Falls High School campus while players and coaches were practicing to get comments regarding a hit on an official in the final minutes of the Marble Falls-Jay game — and it would seem the Mustangs might not have been able to focus on getting ready for the Greyhounds.

Green said that’s not the case.

“You know what you do?” he asked. “You show up and you practice, you talk to your kids, you coach your kids. Then, you have kids who respect you and the coaching staff, and they listen to you and they trust you, and you get work done. And that’s what our kids have done. I’m very, very proud of our coaches as well and the focus they’ve been able to relay to their kids and the focus they’ve been able to maintain as coaches. So I’m proud. I’m happy right now with our program.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com