Marble Falls football looks for answers in road trip season opener

CAPTION: The 2022 Marble Falls Mustang varsity football team includes (by jersey number on the roster) Austin Cutchin, Ben Garrett, Alejandro Gutierrez, Dax Murphy, Chris Talamantez, Jamie Castillo, Dominic Fierro, Josh Deberard, Kole Becker, Kody Smith, Caleb Vidal, Yoel Gutierrez, Hayden Miller, Jacob Henry, Eli Black, Damon Murphy, Frankie Reyes, Jonah Walker, A.J. Scovil, Jasael Ruiz, Cameron Graham, Bram Bowen, Austin Cowan, Jaquez Whitfield, Zach Woody, Isaac Larranaga, Cooper Cochran, Kristian DuBose, Brian Beltran, Aiden Veloz, Hershel Hawkins, Devin Trejo, Gavin Hernandez, Mark Villalobos, Abbner Hernandez, John Baker, Kevin Aguilar, Hunter Caufield, Riley Edwards, Jose Solorzano, Mike Marichalar, Maverick Vaughn, Maverick Lawson, Jeremiah Bales, Kaden Roberts, Kaiden Campbell. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School football team begins the 2022 season with question marks.

The one known, however, is who the Mustangs (District 13-4A Division I) are playing in week one: Pflugerville Connally (District 11-5A Division II) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at The Pfield, 1440 W. Pecan St. in Pflugerville.

Head coach Brian Herman deliberately scheduled the Cougars on a Thursday night for several reasons.

“I’m excited about the venue,” he said. “I wanted to have an early big-eyed moment where (my players) experienced a playoff venue. I wanted to play on a Thursday; I think the advantage goes to us. Making someone prepare for the slot-T on a short week is tough. They did spring ball so they had one less week of (fall training) in August. They didn’t start (their camp) until Aug. 8.”

Connally returns 21 players from last year’s team that went 3-7. The Cougars were led by sophomores who are a year older including all-district defensive backs Lawrence Doe and Owen Garcia and linebacker Armand Kirkland. Herman said his scouts reported seeing some athletes play on the junior varsity and varsity during their only scrimmage of the season.

No matter who lines up for the Cougars on which side of the ball, Herman knows they will be fast, physical and strong.

“I told pur guys all week our backs need to have amazing fakes,” he said. They’re fast. We’re hoping that can play to our advantage. We need traps and sweeps. We need to hide the ball and keep the ball away from them.”

The Mustangs have used a slew of skilled players to run the offense: senior Jasel Ruiz, juniors Bram Bowen, Jamie Castillo, Cooper Cochran, Cameron Graham, Dax Murphy, Kody Smith and Jonah Walker and sophomore Kole Becker. Herman said fans can brace for seeing multiple athletes getting offensive touches.

The linemen include senior Kaiden Campbell, juniors Jeremiah Bales, Hunter Caufield, Riley Edwards, Abbner Hernandez, Gavin Hernandez, Mike Marichalar and sophomore Mark Villalobos. Senior A.J. Scovil and junior Brian Beltran line up at split end.

Connally will have a new starting quarterback projected to be Kaden Nguyen who also plays linebacker. Jacory Alexander and Kirkland line up at running back.

The Mustangs will counter with seniors Kevin Aguilar and Devin Trejo, Bales, Beltran and Scovil on the line and linebackers Austin Cowan, a senior, and juniors Josh Deberard, Kristian DuBose, Isaac Larranaga, Aiden Veloz, Bowen, Castillo and Villalobos behind them. The secondary includes senior Zach Woody, juniors Frankie Reyes, Yoel Gutierrez, Murphy and Graham and Becker.

As for what kind of offensive scheme the Cougars play, Herman said “that’s a good question.”

“I’ve known (head) coach (Jason) Cecil a long time,” he said. “They’ve been a spread, they’ve been a power spread, they’ve been in the I, they’ve explored wing-T concepts. They’re all over the place. They’re going to try to do a lot of things that force us to prepare for a lot of things.”

Herman added most coaches want to ensure they have multiple looks in order to force the opponent to spend time preparing for various alignments.

As for his own team, Herman said he was happy with the way the offense improved from the start of training camp to now.

“I’m pleased with our offensive progression,” he said. “During the scrimmages, I know we didn’t have a game-breaking big play. I like our workman-like effort to get on the field and move the sticks. We were fairly clean with new guys in new positions in new roles.”

He added the Mustangs are still in search of their “dudes.”

“I think you’re going to see a constantly evolving team over the year,” he said. “I think throughout the year, we’ll learn more and more about ourselves and our kids.”

Before graduate Ryan Minor was a three-year starter, he began the 2019 season on the junior varsity. He played so well that coaches had little choice but to move him up. And when he got his chance to start on the varsity, he never gave up his spot because he played consistently well and continued to get better.

Herman noted that’s what he and his staff want to see from this year’s Mustangs.

“Our JV this year is almost exclusively sophomores,” he said. “That gives them an opportunity to get on the field and play. They have to learn new roles, too. It opens expectations for new sophomores to be leaders. We may have to cherry-pick and move some up. The last couple of years, you could have almost predicted (our two-deep). This year is so many unknowns. Nobody is locked in to a spot – everyone is vulnerable. That’s a great position to be in.”

As he sat back in his chair and thought about the season opener and the 2022 season, Herman repeated “it’s exciting.”

“I’m in a position I haven’t been in in a really long time,” he said. “It’s like throwing names in a hat and pulling them out. All of our kids are working hard. We’re going with the kids who give us the best chance to win. It’ll be reprsentative of who we believe have done enough to earn a position. I haven’t had this many question marks going into a season in a long, long time.”

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