Faith Academy football loses to Pasadena First Baptist

The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team lost to Pasadena First Baptist 65-20 Aug. 30 in the 2024 season opener.

The Warriors (1-0) scored on the game’s opening possession. But the Flames responded immediately on their opening possession. But that was as close as the game would get.

PFB scored touchdowns on every possession it had in part by recovering two onside kicks, recovering two Faith fumbles and recording an interception.

The game ended at halftime.

“There’s a reason why they’re No. 1 in (the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) Division I,” Faith head coach Jay Silvers said. “We made our own mistakes. When First Baptist recovered the ball, they scored.”

Silvers noted his offense “ran a little bit of a hurry-up” on its first possession but didn’t score again until the second quarter.

“We had missed blocks, dropped balls and a fumble we got back,” he said. “We self-destructed on four drives in a row. Once we got the jitters out, we ran well. We can score. Our defense couldn’t stop their offense. They are bigger than we are. We had a hard time getting ourselves in position. They’d run four, five, six plays. They scored on every possession they had.”

Faith quarterback Andrew Houy completed 12 of 17 passes for 163 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

“He did a great job,” Silvers said. “He did his position well.”

Wade Dillard caught six passes for 86 yards, while Landon Silvers had two receptions for 59 yards and a score. One reception was for 55 yards on a dump pass.

“(Silvers) made a lot of good moves,” his dad and coach said. “He was able to get through their defense.”

Adam Merlick “caught a timing route in the end zone to score at the end of the game,” Silvers said, adding the Flame caught three passes for 16 yards and a touchdown.

His son had a 55-yard rushing touchdown to go with his receiving score. He finished with four carries for 60 yards.

“Our running game never got going the whole night,” the coach said. “We were dumping passes the whole night, and they were well coached.”

Pollsters predicted PFB to win the state title. And going into the contest, Silvers knew the Flames couldn’t hurt themselves to give themselves a chance at a win.

“We can’t make any mistakes,” he said. “They were around our guys a lot. They swarmed to the ball and did what they had to to stop us.”

Faith welcomes Runge for its home opener at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at Britton Field.

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