Marble Falls football looks to contain Brownwood

CAPTION: Swarming to the football and not giving up big plays are keys to the Mustangs’ success against Brownwood. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School football team will travel to play the Brownwood Lions, its first trip to Gordon Wood Stadium in decades.

The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1. The stadium is located at 3206 Milam Drive.

The Mustangs (0-1, District 13-4A Division I) are in search of their first win of the season, while the Lions (1-0, District 2-4A Division I) are looking to win at home for the first time this season.

“They definitely have a home-field advantage,” Mustangs head coach Brian Herman said. “It’s one of the special places to play. It’s a neat place, there’s a lot of tradition. They have a lot of pride.”

Last season, the Lions, who are ranked in the top 10 in Class 4A in most polls, posted a 10-3 overall record and entered the playoffs as the district champions. They reached the third round.

This season nine of those 11 defensive starters are back. Senior noseguard Quinten McCarty and senior middle linebacker Samuel Kallman lead the defensive front, while senior cornerback Morsello Hooker anchors the secondary.

“They are so physical and disciplined,” Herman said. “Against (Pflugerville) Connally, I felt like we were the aggressive players, at least on the offensive line. Brownwood is showing to be way more of a challenge. They’re going to try to manhandle us upfront.”

The Lions’ offense revolves around senior quarterback Ike Hall. During the 35-21 win against Abilene Wylie, Hall rushed for 163 yards and for two scores and passed for 81 yards and threw a touchdown pass. Brownwood led 7-0 thanks to Hall’s 24-yard touchdown on the game’s opening possession and 14-7 at the half when Hall hit Hooker on a 29-yard touchdown pass. Running back Jaylan Brown had touchdown runs of 13 and 8 yards.

Last season, Hall completed 111 of 208 passes for 1,837 yards and 17 touchdowns and ran for 948 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is the only returning Brownwood offensive starter.

Herman said Hall reminds him of a Texas Longhorn legend.

“He has some Vince Young to him,” he said.

Brownwood also is equally good on special teams. Herman those players “don’t make mistakes.”

“Brownwood was really good last year and better now,” he said.

Herman envisions this game being played the way Marble Falls played Brenham in bi-district contests in 2020 and 2021 where the Mustangs hung around by limiting the Cubs offensively thanks to a stingy defense, a Marble Falls offense that kept getting first downs, and playing near flawlessly on special teams.

“We can’t turn the ball over, we have to control the clock,” he said. “We can’t have stupid penalties.”

During the loss against Pflugerville Connally, Herman pointed out the Mustangs averaged six yards per play offensively. But they had 11 fumbles with four of them lost. Combine that with penalties, and that equals wasted or negative plays. In all, Marble Falls had 76 plays.

“Sixty is our average,” he said. “The problem is the negative plays had an average of seven yards lost. We have to cut down on negative plays. If we can average 3.5 yards against Brownwood, we’ll be fine. We’ll have our chances.”

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