School Spotlight: Marlin High School (Marlin, Texas)

Marlin High School-located in Marlin,Texas-plays in the 2A classification of Texas high school football. They are ranked as the #586 team in the state, and the #26 team in all of 2A high school football. The Bulldogs, whose colors are purple and gold, had a great year under coach Ruben Torres. They finished 7-5 finishing 2nd in their district and beating Rio Vista in the playoffs before losing to a tough Tolar team. This week, I talked to Coach Torres many things about the Marlin program such as the history, pillars, and the future of the Marlin Bulldogs.

Marlin High School has a long history, opening up in the year 1907. They started to play football in the year 1908, making them one of the oldest high schools in Central Texas. From the years 1993 to 2008, they were lead by Jerry Malone making it to the state championship game in 2003. They have had 11 double digit win seasons, which shows they have a strong tradition of winning.

The pillars of this Marlin program are discipline, accountability, effort, and honesty. Coach Torres makes sure that these kids are able to execute all these pillars since in high school football, everyone needs to have the ability to step up when they are needed. Marlin is a prime example of that, with how they responded through adversity. Last year, they lost the best player in 2A to a torn ACL in training camp. Their best offensive player barely played through the season, and they lost 3 offensive linemen during the season. However, they bounced back and went 7-5, showing that this team can battle through adversity.

Marlin runs a one-back type of offense that they incorporated a ton of tight end action last year, which lead to success as they averaged 207 passing yards per game. Operating out of the pistol, they love to run outside zones and countering them with some GT counters and traps. They are ready to incorporate the option into their offense this year. On defense, they run a 4-2-5 defense which helps them have 17 sacks, 10 interceptions and 351 tackles this year showing that they can fly to the football and make plays.

Marlin Football always have a great amount of athletes, which will help them build for the future. Replacing a 2 year starter at quarterback will be a little tricky but Coach Torres is confident in his options. They are trying also to build and grow offensive linemen, as you can’t have two many offensive linemen to build your program. They like what they see in the younger grades such as the 7th and 8th grades with the potential going to be great.

Before letting Coach Torres go, I asked him to highlight several athletes who have an impact on both sides of the both.