Faith Academy loses to Oglesby
CAPTION: Freshman Landon Silvers returned a kickoff 76 yards to paydirt against Oglesby. Photo by Stennis Shotts
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team lost to Oglesby 62-12 Oct. 4 in a contest that ended in the third quarter.
“We just did not execute,” Flames head coach Jay Silvers said. “They were more physical than we were. They’ve been a really good team in the (University Interscholastic League),” he said. “They have a lot of talent. They were strong. (Head coach Jeb) Dixon has done a great job. When he and I talked, they were going to have two (junior varsity) squads. I knew he had a lot of kids there. I looked, it sure was close to 20 kids on their side. They have an established core of seniors.”
The Tigers (4-2), who were the Class 1A Division II runners-up in 2023, earned 209 rushing yards and five touchdowns off 13 carries.
Senior Kyler Fossett led with 10 carries for 179 yards and five scores and had a 45-yard touchdown catch on a pass from senior Alex Castillo.
“(Fossett) is definitely a hard kid to bring down,” Silvers said. “He ran over us, through us and around us. He’s every bit as good as he looked on film. “
Castillo completed 2 of 5 passes for 56 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Jack Hendricks had the other score on an 11-yard catch.
One of Faith’s touchdowns came on a 75-yard kickoff return by freshman Landon Silvers.
The other came on a 20-yard touchdown pass to senior Joey Riccio after the Flames “made a change on offense,” the coach said.
Up until then, the Tigers covered the Flames’ pass catchers and brought pressure to passers and ball carriers at the line of scrimmage. In short, Oglesby bet that their defenders could get to the ball before the Flames could find an open receiver and complete an pass.
“(Our passers) couldn’t find a guy open,” the coach said. “If he did, it was short.”
Hendricks also recovered two fumbles.
“They shut our offense down pretty good,” Silvers said. “They pushed through our guys. They leveled up on the blocks. They just knocked our guys around. They were more physical than we were. They broke through tackles, they were running through our offensive guys.”
While most don’t want to lose, the coach said he and the program are viewing it as an opportunity – to see where they are and what they could be.
“I’d rather play teams that will make us better,” he said. “We’ll face teams that aren’t this good.”
Faith welcomes Cherokee at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, to Britton Field.
