Coach: Faith football team must contain TMI quarterback
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
MARBLE FALLS — The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team travels south to face San Antonio TMI on Friday, Sept. 15.
The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at TMI-The Episcopal School of Texas, 20955 W. Tejas Trail.
The Flames (0-2, 0-0 in Division III, District 4) are looking for their first win of the season, while the Panthers (1-1, 0-0 Division 5A, District 5) are trying to start a winning streak. Last week, TMI defeated San Marcos Baptist 28-21.
Both schools are members of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
The Panthers are led by junior quarterback William Elms, who has completed 16 of 32 passes for 170 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions and has 16 carries for 137 yards. Junior running back Cody Trevino has 27 carries for 145 yards and three touchdowns, while junior receiver Luke Terry has four receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown.
TMI’s scheme is the spread with a lot of zone read by the quarterback
“The quarterback does an excellent job reading the defense ends,” Faith head coach Pete Rhoades said. “He hasn’t made a bad decision. He’s a double-edge sword. He’s a great athlete with a lot of speed. We have to contain him to be successful. They have a talented running back.”
Rhoades said playing disciplined defense and forcing Elms to make quicker decisions will be vital.
“That’s the difficult thing,” he said. “It’s like putting cheese in a trap for a mouse. If you leave it, you’ll go hungry. If you take the cheese, you die. Our defensive ends have to be disciplined. We’ll have to be very disciplined.”
Defensively, TMI is led by its defensive line, and Rhoades believes the Flames match up well.
While TMI played San Marcos Baptist last week, the Flames scrimmaged that team in August and left with a 1-1 tie.
“(TMI) is a team we can play with if we execute and not put the ball on the ground,” Rhoades said.
Though Faith has lost its first two games, the coach sees improvement in his players every time they take the field.
“It’s a building process,” he said. “We have three more weeks to get ready for district. We’ll find success and try to build ourselves, so we’re peaking as district is starting.”
Playing teams such as TMI will help with that process, he added.
Faith had five fumbles in the first half of its 52-14 loss to Boerne Geneva on Sept. 8, so players and coaches have been working to correct that.
“We did not protect the ball well,” Rhoades said. “Geneva did a good job of stripping the ball.”