Faith football uses bye week to improve fundamentals, add tweaks

CAPTION: Training Flames to learn multiple positions like sophomore Wade Dillard is a priority. Photo by Stennis Shotts

Though the Faith Academy of Marble Falls football team is on a bye this week, the Flames aren’t taking a vacation from the field.

In fact, the Flames (2-5) are preparing for the final three games of the season that are their most important – all in District 4, Division II of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.

Faith’s only district home game is against San Marcos Academy at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25. The Flames didn’t practice Monday, Oct. 14, and had three consecutive practice days after that.

With two weeks to prepare, head coach Jay Silvers and defensive coordinator Garrett Cole are using eagle eyes on the team’s defense with the aim of getting the Flames sharper on that side of the ball.

“We’re making sure we have all the players in the right positions,” Silvers said.

The youth and inexperience on defense has posed some challenges for the Flames. Some opponents have been able to better fool the Flames by getting them out of position or lining up in a formation that’s confusing. Coaches are working to get help the players do less thinking and more reacting in a quicker pace.

The other challenge is cross training players to learn different positions so there’s not a drop-off of intensity, no matter who’s in the lineup.

“I think it’s all hands on deck,” Silvers said. “In six-man you have to have kids who can play in multiple spots. If there’s someone in, we don’t wan to feel like we’ll drop down on any level.”

He pointed out that junior Andrew Houy and freshman Landon Silvers are the Flames’ most athletic players. And their ability to learn and retain the roles of multiple positions per play puts them in a separate category entirely.

The head coach noted having athletes who can embrace playing time as opposed to embracing playing a specific position is vital to a program’s success.

“It’s definitely the mentally part for the guys we have,” Silvers said. “I feel like every kid out there, if we told them, they’d do it. I feel blessed they’re willing to do whatever. They’re willing to do the best they can. It’ll pay off for us. It’s worth all the short gain for the long-term gains in the end.”

Though the Flames lost to Cherokee 99-93 last week, Silvers saw plenty of positives. Top of the list was how the Flames stayed on their blocks longer to help ball carriers find lanes for big gains.

“It’s been fundamentally making sure we understand the little things,” he said. “We’ll have different formations and different things to distribute the ball.”

While the Flames have had quality practice sessions throughout the week, coaches also have called for competitions where players have broken into groups.

“We want to keep things light and fun, but we do compete,” Silvers said. “We do try to keep it light and do let them enjoy playing football.”

The Flames also won’t have a free weekend either. Silvers said the players will have access to film of the district opponents where they’ll be expected to watch and take their own notes.

“Then we’ll go back to the grind,” he said. “It’s stuff we practice all the time. I want to get better at other things.”