Faith Flames open district with loss to state champ Veritas
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team suffered its second loss of the season in its district opener October 11.
This one was against Austin Veritas, a 48-0 contest that ended in the third quarter and snapped the Flames’ three-game winning streak.
Faith is now 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the six-man Division I, District 2 of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
The 2018 state champion Defenders took advantage of several Faith turnovers, turning them into points.
Faith trailed 8-0 after the opening quarter. Head coach Stephen Shipley noted the Flames were inside Veritas’ (4-3, 1-0) 15-yard line but couldn’t score.
The Defenders defense scored two touchdowns, saving the offense the hassle. Shipley said Veritas put a lot of pressure on the Faith quarterback.
“Everything starts rolling the wrong way,” he said. “They’re running the hurry-up offense. We really didn’t play defense. The turnovers killed us. We made fourth-down stops but didn’t get it done in the red zone.”
Veritas has 31 players on its roster, which means they had one-way starters on both sides of the ball. Faith, meanwhile, started some of the same players on offense and defense.
While any loss doesn’t feel good, Shipley said this one coming in the district opener will only serve to help the Flames as they prepare for the rest of the season.
“We faced our toughest opponent in our district,” he said. “We saw what it takes to be successful on that level of play and competition.”
The Flames travel to play at Round Rock Concordia at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 18, at Fritz Park, 400 Park Ave. in Hutto.