Faith Academy football returns to fundamentals vs. Geneva
JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER
MARBLE FALLS — When the Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team began preparations this week for Boerne Geneva, head coach Stephen Shipley announced a new volunteer coach.
The Flames (0-0) travel to Boerne Geneva (1-0) for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Boerne ISD Stadium, 1 Greyhound Drive in Boerne. Both schools are members of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
Drew Hansen, 32, is assisting in coaching the offensive line. A former player at the University of Northern Arizona, Hansard was invited to participate in the NFL Combine almost a decade ago.
“He’ll be good addition and better late than never to get some help on our offensive line,” Shipley said.
The addition comes on the heels of the season opener against Center Point last week. Though the game was called early due to lightning, Faith had enough of the game recorded to break down the film. And what the Flames discovered illustrated the importance of re-emphasizing fundamentals, Shipley said.
The Flames (District 4 Division III) took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter against Center Point on Aug. 26. But lightning forced the teams into the locker room. After about an hour, coaches talked about resuming the game the next day. Besides not being able to find officials for a Saturday game, Pony Stadium was reserved for youth football games.
And since no more than a quarter was played, it wasn’t enough to count as a full game.
Shipley said the team saw a lack of technique in blocking or getting off blocks and handling blitzes.
“Some things that we had worked on in two-a-days but probably should have kept working on throughout last week knowing that Center Point is a blitzing team,” he said, “which is going to help us some going into Boerne Geneva because they’re the same way. They do a lot of blitzing.”
The Eagles (Division III, District 5) are led by defensive linemen senior Jacob Schroder and junior Zach Akin, linebackers junior Marshall Shults and senior John-Michael Kight and junior defensive back Will Langenbahn. Geneva runs a 3-4 base defense.
“They attack, they blitz a lot, they like to come up the middle,” Shipley said. “They’ll bring their linebackers up quite a bit and blitz them. Every now and then, they’ll bring in an outside one, but they do like to bring their middle linebacker up and try to shoot the gaps between their guards and tackles and guards and center.”
Offensively, the Eagles utilize plenty of run-pass options for Langenbahn, who also plays quarterback. His favorite passing target is Shults, who also plays tight end. They like to throw to the middle of the field and use misdirection to confuse defenders.
During Boerne Geneva’s 42-7 win against San Antonio TMI, Langenbahn was 11 of 17 attempts for 181 yards and four touchdowns, while Shults had three catches for 46 yards and a touchdown. Senior Tyler Navarro had three catches for 80 yards and a touchdown, and junior Scott Janse’s only catch was a 37-yard touchdown.
And though the emphasis leading up to the Geneva contest are fundamentals, Shipley said he saw some good things from his players as well such as a fumble recovery by Dawson Jordan and an interception by Preston Richardson.
The only score of the short contest was a Garrett Henderson completion to Cameron Ellenberger for a 40-yard touchdown.
Helping the linemen improve their play is crucial to the Flames’ success against Geneva, Shipley said, adding he feels good about the skilled position players.
“We’ve got a plan in place. We’ve got some plays and some things I think we can take advantage of if we can just get some time up front to give our quarterback time to throw and to open up a few lanes for us to get a running game going,” he said. “I really feel like we’ll move the ball on them, but it is going to start with our offensive line.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com