Faith Academy football shows fight in loss to Waco Live Oak
CAPTION: Faith Academy’s Carter Fromberg looks for a big gain during the loss to Waco Live Oak. Photo by Stennis Shotts
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team lost to Waco Live Oak 66-40 Oct. 6 in the Division II, District 3 opener of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools for both teams.
Faith (3-3, 0-1) travels to Round Rock Concordia for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday, Oct. 13.
Defensive coordinator Jay Silvers served as the interim head coach because head coach John Hallam missed the contest for personal reasons. On Oct. 5, Silvers and athletic director Zakk Revelle contacted football adviser and former head coach Stephen Shipley to call the offensive plays. Shipley met with the players after school Oct. 6 and rep-introduced his spread offense to them.
“I gave them old wristbands and put in six plays we ran last year,” he said. “We hadn’t practiced them in a year.”
On the Flames’ first drive, they had a 60-yard touchdown called back. Two plays later, the Flames dropped a deep ball that would have been a touchdown. They turned the ball over on downs on the next play.
“That first drive was indicative of the game,” Shipley said.
He moved senior Cross Sanchez to receiver “to utilize him” more as an athlete and let his natural skills and instincts take over. Quarterbacks Andrew Houy and Carter Fromberg saw the open receivers well, Shipley said, but couldn’t connect with them with enough consistency.
“There were some wide-open guys we overthrew or underthrew,” he said.
During the intermission, Shipley noted that Silvers made some adjustments.
“We shut them down in the second half,” he said. “We were down 48-30 for most of the second half with missed opportunities and dropped touchdowns. In the middle of the fourth quarter, we shot ourselves in the foot with penalties.”
Shipley said there wasn’t much Live Oak did that surprised him, noting the Falcons “are going to be well-coached.”
After the game, Shipley commended the players for their willingness to play and adjust in a short amount of time.
“We had 15 minutes in the student center to go over these plays,” he said. “The kids fought till the end. Coach Silvers did a great job.”
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