Marble Falls youth football facing Boerne for title
CAPTION: The Marble Falls fifth-grade offense has tremendous blockers that include Brayden Wingate (58), Tristan Mosley (30) and Zaymian Granadoz (15). The trio drive the Wimberley defense backward to help running back Easton Packer (1) get positive yards on a running play. Courtesy photo
The Marble Falls Youth Football and Cheer’s fifth-grade team is playing Boerne for the Hill Country Youth Football League championship.
The contest kicks off at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at Mustang Stadium on the Marble Falls High School campus. This game is a rematch of a contest played earlier this season. Marble Falls won 30-6.
The Mustangs are playing in the championship after shutting out Wimberley 23-0 Oct. 28.
“That’s a big deal,” association president and fifth-grade coach Nicholas Wood said. “We’ve played the other fifth-grade teams on our high school level: Jarrell, Boerne, Burnet. And we played Llano, San Saba and Wimberley.”
As he reflected on how the Mustangs beat Wimberley, Wood credited the offensive scheme – the Slot-T formation.
“The slot has worked great for us,” he said. “We have a great offensive line that allows us to control the ball. We’re very methodical in our drives. Typically we follow the high school system. That goes a long way to driving their morale.”
The offense’s ability to force the defense to pick what it wants to defend has been a big part of the success, the coach added.
“Once they bring those safeties up, we run it straight at them,” he said. “If they bring 11 guys in the box, we’ve been able to hit passes for 20 or 30 yards. That’s been the big thing.”
The Mustangs also field a stinging defense whose players know their roles and get right to work, Wood said.
“We have a bunch of kids who play great and are fast to the ball,” he said. “We have super fast athletic kids. They’re flying to the ball and playing their hearts out.”
Besides playing stinging defense, the Mustangs are big in being extraordinary on special teams.
Wood said the squad practices onside kicks and other portions of special teams in order to gain an advantage or an extra possession. The coach added the team learned the value of special teams the hard way by suffering a loss due in part because of not fielding the ball correctly on an onside kick.
He credits Tristan Moseley for committing to being great on special teams.
“We practice onside kicks at every single practice,” the coach said. “We’re going to beat some people with it or remove at least one of their possessions.”
The Marble Falls junior varsity (third- and fourth-graders) lost to Boerne 32-7 Oct. 28 to end their season in the first round of the playoffs.
On the same day, the Marble Falls freshmen (Kindergarten through second grade) lost to Fredericksburg 41-19.
Watch videos on Highland Lakes sports by going to Fierro’s YouTube channel and searching for The Broad Podcaster. Please like, subscribe and share.
