Faith Academy

Faith Academy sophomore Natalie Roach received multiple individual awards and was crowned 2017 International Junior Miss Texas Teen at the Texas State Pageant, held Feb. 24-26 in Richardson.

Though her accomplishment of winning one of the top five pageants in the nation is impressive, it is rivaled by the odds she had to overcome to get there.

Natalie suffered a stroke in utero and was born blind and paralyzed on her left side. As a result, she spent many years in a variety of therapies and even underwent a complicated surgery that was able to restore her eyesight.

By Mark Goodson

Highlander Sports Editor

Faith Academy (34-4) will play Houston Lutheran North at 11 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25, in the TAPPS Class 4A state semifinals at Kimbrell Arena on the campus of McMurry University.

The winner will play the winner of the Lubbock Trinity Christian-Amarillo San Jacinto game in Saturday’s 1 p.m. finals.

You can see the game by logging into http://www.nfhsnetwork.com/tournament/texas-tapps-winter-championships/b..., selecting 02/24 and clicking on the correct game.

The Lady Flames are trying to capture their second state championship in four seasons. The Lady Flames went 30-4 in 2014 and won the TAPPS 2A title with a 47-45 win over New Braunfels Christian Academy.

Faith Academy (3-4, 1-2) rolled to a 49-30 win over Texas School for the Deaf Friday night at Pony Stadium.
The Flames totaled 452 yards of offense led by running back Kameron Ellenberger’s 142 yards rushing and four touchdowns.

Cab Booth had six catches for 123 yards and scored on a pair of touchdowns.

Jarad Gastineau caught a touchdown reception from Braden McBryde.

Garrett Henderson threw two touchdowns.

“The defense has played strong for the last few weeks,’’ Faith Academy defensive coordinator Jim Richardson said.

The Flames’ defense recorded three interceptions. Preston Richardson had a pair of inteceptions and Gastineau had one.

Leading tacklers were Richardson, Dawson Jordan, Ellenberger and Isaac Oliver.

The Flames have two games remaining in TAPPS Division III, District 4 action.

by Alexandria Randolph

Highland Lakes Newspapers

An 11-year-old girl from Oatmeal placed in a world champion youth archery tournament in August.

Aspen Nelson, a student at Faith Academy, placed sixth in Junior Buckmasters World Champion Tournament, a worldwide youth archery competition in Montgomery, Ala. after under two years of practicing the sport.

Stepdad Brian Klosterhoff said Nelson is a natural.

“She's ranked in the state of Texas for first place junior archer in 4-H,” he said.

Klosterhoff and friend Robert Lee began coaching a group of Burnet County 4-H students in archery in April 2015, when Nelson expressed interest in the sport.

“She wanted to do it and she has really taken off,” he said.

Nelson said she likes archery because “it's very challenging and you get to be outside. With archery, you have a hobby forever.”

By Glynis Crawford Smith/The Highlander

In a cost share agreement between Faith Academy and the City of Marble Falls, the school will have better fire protection and the city will get a bargain in infrastructure into its extraterritorial jurisdiction. 

As approved by the Marble Falls City Council Tuesday night, Feb. 2, Faith Academy will pay an estimated at $162,000 toward a new water main to the school and the city will add $40,000 to bring the line from proposed 4-6-inch service to the requisite eight-inch main.

See the full story in the Friday, Feb. 4, edition of The Highlander.