Faith Academy Flames earn impressive win in 3 quarters against McDade

CAPTION: Faith Academy of Marble Falls junior Kade Shaw brings fans to their feet on the first play of the game against McDade. Shaw returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Photo by Stennis Shotts

The contest against McDade Sept. 2 couldn’t have started any better for the Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team.

Junior Kade Shaw returned the opening kickoff 76 yards for the touchdown en route to beating the Bulldogs (1-1, District 16-1A Division I of the University Interscholastic League) 55-8.

Head coach Stephen Shipley noted the kickoff return for the score paved the way for the Flames (1-1, District 3, Division 2 of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) to build a 20-8 lead in the opening stanza.

“We had a good first quarter,” the coach said. “We got an onside kick, and we scored and we got another onside kick, and we scored. In that first quarter, we were clicking pretty good. On defense, I was really pleased with our effort. We didn’t give up a lot of explosive plays. “

The second period also had a promising start, Shipley said, but the Flames threw 2 interceptions. The Bulldogs returned one to the Faith four-yard line they turned into a touchdown that forced the two teams to play the third quarter with Faith leading 43-8 at the half.

“Our defense played better this week to hold them to 8 points,” Shipley said. “They hardly got inside our red zone. They had 3 or 4 turnovers as well. We turned 2 into touchdowns.”

Offensively, Faith had a handful of bad snaps and suffered some of the same setbacks it had during the loss to Austin St. Stephens Aug. 26. Shipley pointed out the interceptions the Flames threw were “into traffic.” Still, the defense stiffened and didn’t allow those miscues to plague the team.

“Our goal was to come out quickly and score quickly,” the coach said. “We had goals we wanted to accomplish that we didn’t do. We have to work out the kinks to get ready for district play.”

Faith welcomes Smoking For Jesus Ministry School at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7, to Britton Field, 3151 RR 1431 East in Marble Falls. The Eagles (0-2, Texas Association of Independent Athletic Organizations) lost to Austin Vertias 56-52 Sept. 2 and to Cherokee 59-14 Aug. 26.

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CAPTION: Faith sophomore Asher Apel leaps for this McDade interception, one of several takeaways the Flames turn into points. Photo by Stennis Shotts