Marble Falls making changes before road game vs. Austin Crockett

JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER

MARBLE FALLS — Marble Falls High School football coaches are implementing changes throughout the program after a 33-12 loss to Burnet last week.

The Mustangs (1-1, District 26-5A) are preparing for Austin Crockett (0-2, District 25-5A) in a game that will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at AISD Burger Stadium, 3200 Jones Road in Austin.

Tune in to the game on KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune or at KBEYFM.com starting with a pregame show at 6:30 p.m.

“We’re going to rotate kids,” Mustangs head coach Matt Green said. “We’ve challenged all of our kids. Nobody is a starter. There’s not one kid in our program that’s a starter. We’re going to rotate them, and we’re going to figure out who wants to start, and the kids are going to have earn that. We’ve gone back to square one with that. I expect good things overall. I didn’t question our effort against Burnet. We saw youth show up, inexperience, and we saw penalties. And those are the two things that are our demise last Friday night.”

While some players started because of injuries to their teammates, the reason Marble Falls is back to the drawing board is in an attempt to limit the penalty yards the Mustangs are recording. They are averaging more than 100 per contest.

Green noted the offensive line, which was the most penalized during the contest, had three new starters.

“Penalties were outrageous,” Green said.

Therefore, coaches handed out punishment throughout the week for penalties in practice, he said.

And even though Marble Falls had more yards of total offense than Burnet, a bad snap on a punt, turnovers and penalty yards gave the Bulldogs short fields, which they were able to turn into points.

“We’re going to really put a focus on it and really fix those things,” the coach said. “You’re going to see our young players, our sophomores in particular… are just going to get better and better because the experience will multiply for them; it’ll get exponential.”

Seniors will continue to be counted on for leadership, he added.

As for the Cougars, the team is led by senior running back Joseph Baca, who has 24 rushes for 111 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s not very big, but he’s extremely quick,” Green said. “And you will see him go into a pile, you’ll think the play is over, and all the sudden he squirts out and runs for an 80-yard touchdown. He is a very good player for them. I know they’re excited to have a player of his caliber. He isn’t going to run you over, but he will absolutely make you miss, and he’ll out run you once you miss him because he’s fast.

Junior quarterback Michael Hidrogo has completed 32 of 51 passes for 377 yards and an interception, while junior receiver Keon Franklin has 11 catches for 174 yards.

“(Franklin is) a kid that I think could start on any team in the state,” Green said. “He is a dynamic player. Their quarterback is more of a runner in my opinion. He can throw the ball, but you’re not going to see Crockett drop back and go through several different reads and pick you apart, that’s not what they do.”

Defensively, the Cougars will give plenty of formations in an attempt to confuse the quarterback. Those formations lead to various blitzes from different personnel across the field because there’s speed everywhere.

Green said it’ll be good for sophomore quarterback Andrew Stripling and the offensive unit to see those formations before starting district play next week.

“I want to see us play well,” he said. “I don’t want to see a sloppy win. But I’m going to tell you right now, I’ll take a sloppy win over a well-played loss. “

jfierro@thepicayune.com