Sawyer wants to keep the success train rolling

One look at Boerne High’s 2025 football schedule reveals that the Greyhounds will play three of their 10 games on Thursday night this year.

One of those games will be in Laredo, which means the team likely won’t get back to Boerne until past midnight and then everybody will have school the next day.

While playing that many Thursday nights may be a problem for some coaches, new Greyhounds coach Brett Sawyer said it’s no big deal to him.

“I actually like playing on Thursday nights, I’d rather play on Thursday than on Saturday,” he said. “It gives you an extra day to watch film.”

While this is Sawyer’s first year leading the Greyhounds, he has been with the program seven years, previously serving as the defensive coordinator. The program has had a lot of success recently and won two regional championships. The Hounds played for the 4A DI state title in 2022 and then went to the state semis in 2024 in their first season at 5A DI.

The Greyhounds graduated 13 starters from last year’s squad and will have some new faces, but Sawyer points out that every team graduates talent and the best programs always develop younger players to stay on top.

“You lose a lot every year and we graduated 35 seniors from last year, one of the biggest classes that Boerne has had, and we lost Hank (Hendrix) too because he went with his dad,” Sawyer said. “But my favorite part is the guy who steps up and becomes the guy. All the guys we lost were incredible, but they replaced people too when they got here and we had the same conversation with them. I have no doubt these guys will step up.”

Players to watch

Texas Football magazine lists Ben Bays, Eli Nikolas, Blake Burkholder, Jake Perez, Zach Freasier and Cash Gatlin as players to watch.

Sawyer mentioned quarterback Hank Hendrix, who left with his father and is getting national attention.

Grant Sweeney is scheduled to take the starting QB spot and Sawyer said he’s coming along. Sweeney was previously at TMI – Episcopal but played middle school football in Boerne.

“He’s looked good in practice and scrimmages,” the coach said. “There’s stuff to work on but he’s doing good things.”

Included in Boerne’s district is Alamo Heights, Harlandale, McCollum, Veterans Memorial and Victoria West.

One of the big district games occurs on Sept. 26 when the Greyhounds host Alamo Heights.

“We have a good rivalry with them and it’s always fun playing them,” Sawyer said. “Two hardnosed teams going at it. Last year’s game turned out to be for the district championship.”

The Hounds host Pieper to open the season Friday.