Marble Falls coach praises seniors’ positive impact on football team

JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER

MARBLE FALLS — The 2015 season will end for the Marble Falls High School football team Nov. 6 when the Mustangs visit Georgetown East View.

The 7:30 p.m. contest is at Georgetown ISD Complex, 2275 N. Austin Ave. in Georgetown. Listen to the game on KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune or at KBEYFM.com starting with a pregame show at 6:30 p.m.

While the finality of the season will sink in for the seniors when the clock strikes triple zeros, head coach Matt Green said he has told them their contributions have helped shaped the program in a positive way.

During a recent chat in the weight room, Green gave this message.

“‘Guys, if there’s ever been a group of seniors I’ve coached that deserve to win and that deserve to have everything they want on a football field, it’s you guys.’ I said, ‘I’ve coached teams where we were undefeated. I’ve coached teams where we’ve had great years, and there were some kids on the team that maybe weren’t great kids or they weren’t that fun to be around as a coach.’”

The team’s record might not scream greatness, Green said, but the character of each senior is amazing.

“People may disagree, but I know,” he added. “They are great football players. They are. They are in a district full of a lot of great football players, and things haven’t worked out the exact way they would pick.”

Of the 43 Mustangs listed on the roster, 18 are seniors.

“What makes this group way past special is how they approach every week,” Green said. “They don’t quit, they don’t point fingers, they don’t give up. They trust their coaches, we trust them and we do have an unbelievable chemistry and family atmosphere here. And it’s because of our seniors.”

For those reasons, the coach said he is going to miss them.

And he’s not the only one. Green said several of the underclassmen look up to the members of the 2016 class, especially those who are expected to contend for starting jobs next year.

“They have brought some of our young kids from a point where they weren’t really good players or maybe they weren’t really good teammates to a point to where they are so much better,” he said. “And I attribute that strongly to our senior group.”

Green did give them one piece of advice. He told players not to allow the opinions of others to influence how they feel about themselves or their work based off a win-loss record.

He also reminded them that they’ll look back fondly on the final game of 2015 if they can beat East View.

And while the seniors may not know it now, the 2015 season will make them better citizens as they move forward to the next phase of their lives, Green said.

“They’re going to be awesome fathers, they’re going to be awesome husbands, they’re going to be great workers and great leaders and bosses,” he said, “and they are absolutely going to know how to deal with adversity in the right manner because of what they dealt with this year.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com