Flames hope home field, offensive change lead to first win
JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER
MARBLE FALLS — The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team is hoping home field advantage will propel it to its first win of the 2016 season.
Faith (0-1) hosts San Antonio TMI with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at Pony Stadium, 1511 Pony Circle Drive.
The Flames (Division III, District 3 of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) are coming off a 44-0 loss to Boerne Geneva on Sept. 3. The Panthers (1-1) rebounded from a 42-7 loss to Geneva in their season-opener with a 19-0 win against San Marcos Academy in Week 2.
TMI is led by a pair of sophomore quarterbacks, Michael Lejune and William Elms, and utilizes a spread offense.
“They like to get the ball on the outside,” Flames head coach Stephen Shipley said. “They have size up front. I think we can match up with them.”
Still, this is more about what the Flames need to do, he said.
Faith will look different offensively in the hopes of getting more consistency, he said, including adding a tight end for blocking purposes.
“We have to get back to running the football better,” the coach said.
Shipley believes adding another blocker will open more seams for runners and protect the quarterback better. In addition, another blocker should offset the Panthers’ blitz packages, which occur at least twice per series.
“You have to set up the run,” he said. “The run sets up the pass. We have to do a better job of executing.”
The Flames also have some injuries that are not allowing athletes to play, which is tough with a roster of 19 players, Shipley said.
“(TMI) has some good athletes,” he said. “We have to contain them and get them to the outside. We have to keep them from getting pressure.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com