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The Mustangs will face the Bulldogs in Burnet tonight at 7:30 p.m. In week one, Marble Falls scored a 20-2 victory against Lehman to start the season 1-0. Nathan Hendrix/The Highlander
Marble Falls High School athletes have stayed busy this week with all matches culminating in the renewal of the Burnet County football rivalry tonight in Burnet.
Football
The Mustangs are riding high after a defensively dominant performance in the season-opening 20-2 win over Lehman.
Head Coach Brian Herman was critical of his offense after the game but praised ball carriers Rio Suarez and Caleb Vidal. The two combined for all three of the Mustangs’ touchdowns.
The Mustangs played their brand of football in the second half. In the fourth quarter, they had the ball for all but 1:20.
Herman said that’s exactly how they drew it up.
“That’s part of the formula,” Herman said after the game. “The less time they have the ball, the less time they have to score.”
Burnet’s week one result was the opposite as they fell to a talented Leander Rouse team. They’ll be looking to bounce back against their rival from the south.
In 2019, Herman’s first season and the last time the teams played, the Bulldogs cruised to a 41-6 win in Marble Falls. However, there is little doubt that this year’s team is different from 2019.
“Struggling that year, they didn’t like it; it left a bad taste in their mouths,” Herman told The Highlander in the preseason. “They turned that into what we had last year. It fueled their desire to do more and do better.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Volleyball
The Lady Mustangs entered the 2021 season with a significant losing streak but broke it early in the year.
With the win behind them, they forge on towards district competition in a crowded field of competitive teams.
“I feel like a lot of the pressure came off with winning that game, so we were actually able to just play,” Head Coach Kaitlyn Goertz said after the tournament win. “Now, we’ve become fun to watch because we’re competing at a level that we haven’t seen before.”
Now in her second year, she’s had a full offseason to implement her system and get the girls up to speed with strength training.
“We’ve made some huge strides,” she said. “I pushed them to the limit, and it’s starting to pay off.”
The girls traveled to Lake Belton on Tuesday and return home tonight to face Llano. The game against the Jackets is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Max Copeland Gym.
Cross Country
The running Mustangs started their season with a strong showing in Johnson City.
Head Coach Chris Schrader has focused on a group running style in order to place the team in the postseason.
“We’re going to run as a pack,” Schrader said in the preseason. “We want to be close enough to each other than we can talk and help each other.
“I want the varsity team to go to Regionals as a team,” he added. “I don’t want to isolate one or two people; I want to take five guys and put them in the top-10 at district. That guarantees the title.”
The team is led by four seniors – Jet Zurita, Eric Nickowski, Sam Valdez and JJ Castro. They continued their quest towards a district title on Friday morning in Temple.