Marble Falls, East View seek to end seasons with district win

JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITERS

MARBLE FALLS — While the Nov. 6 contest at Georgetown East View wraps up the 2015 season for the Marble Falls High School football team, Mustangs head coach Matt Green said his mindset is this game is the first of the 2016 season.

The two play at 7:30 p.m. at Georgetown ISD Athletic Complex, 2275 N. Austin Ave. in Georgetown. Listen to the game on KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune or at KBEYFM.com starting with a 6:30 p.m. pregame show.

Green said this game will stay with each team for the next eight months.

“If you win it, it sends you into the offseason with a win. It sends your seniors out on a tremendous note – the win they’ve been hunting for all year in district, the win they so deserve,” he said. “And then it makes your offseason so much better. It makes your attitude with your kids so much more positive.

“If you lose this ballgame, then your seniors feel like … they never got the win they deserved, they work so hard to get,” he added. “You end on a down note as a coach because you never want to end on a loss. And then, ultimately, your program, in my opinion, ends on a down note going into the offseason because you don’t want to end on a loss.”

A year ago, the Patriots (3-6 overall, 0-6 in District 25-5A) came to Marble Falls needing a win to secure a playoff berth. They won 45-27 and then beat Bastrop 31-0 in a bi-district championship before losing to Kerrville Tivy 35-17 in the second round of the playoffs.

This season, East View is looking for the same thing the Mustangs (2-7, 0-6) are: to end the year with a win and avoid the district cellar.

The Patriots also have a new offensive coordinator, Jeff Dicus, who was the head coach at Lake Travis for a handful of years before leaving for Duncanville as the head coach after guiding the Cavaliers to the 2007 Class 4A state championship.   

East View uses a lot of tight end and double tight end sets, Green said.

“(Dicus is) pretty creative out of it. They like to run the ball downhill. They have a big running back,” he said. “And they like to play action and sprint-out pass out of it. And they’re good.”

That running back is junior Civon Lewis, who has 84 carries for 374 yards and 10 touchdowns. Sophomore running back Torrie Davis has 60 carries for 400 yards and three touchdowns. Senior quarterback Austin Moreno has completed 80 of 145 passes for 1,000 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions. In all, the Patriots have 2,621 yards of total offense and averaged 33 points a game in non-district play. However, that average drops to 14 points a game in district play.

Green said the Patriots’ defensive players know their assignments and play well.

“What they try to do is be so sound in what they’re doing, and their kids are so confident in where they’re supposed to fit and where they play that they’re successful,” he said.

Marble Falls junior quarterback Cade Cool has completed 80 of 161 passes for 1,220 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Junior running back Dalton Mayberry has 69 carries for 407 yards and a touchdown and 16 catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Senior receiver Eric Cauble has 34 catches for 517 yards and four touchdowns, and senior receiver Jacob Metcalf has 41 receptions for 509 yards and a touchdown.

The key to this contest, Green said, is which team can win on third down.

“That’s always a big deal in a game, but I think that will be really big, especially looking that the weather could be bad and the fact the ground game could be important,” he said. “When it comes to third downs, both teams realize that the other one is going to try to line up and run the ball.”

The Mustangs enter this game with some confidence after the 35-14 loss to Leander Vandegrift. Marble Falls led 14-0 early in the second quarter and 14-7 at the half before the Vipers scored three touchdowns in seven plays to run away with the victory. Still, Leander had been averaging almost 50 points a contest, and the Mustangs held them to their lowest point total of the year.

And though the outcome of the Marble Falls-East View game doesn’t impact the playoff picture, Green said the contest isn’t meaningless for either program.

“Both teams are desperately looking for a district win and because they want that win so bad, if something goes bad for either team, you might see that team put their head down,” he said. “I’ll tell you this: Our kids haven’t done that all year. Our kids, no matter how bad it has gotten at any point, our kids have done nothing but fight. And that’s what I know is going to happen for our team.”

jfierro@thepicayune.com