Football season opens across the state this week

Chargers, Greyhounds, Eagles and Bobcats in action

All four county 11-man football teams will kick off their 2025 season openers this Friday. Boerne High and Comfort will be at home, while Boerne Champion and Geneva School of Boerne hit the road.

The Boerne Star will have the games covered and the results will be printed in the weekend edition that will be available Saturday morning.

Boerne Champion

The Chargers have a long drive and open the season on the road in Laredo, 7 p.m.

Champion tangles with Laredo United South and this will be the fourth time the Chargers and the Panthers have met on opening day.

The Chargers have never lost to United South, but all the games have been competitive and that’s why Champion coach Blane Ellis likes playing them to open each season. The Chargers are 3-0 against the Panthers and have won by 14, 10 and 5 points.

Ellis said the Panthers play a physical brand of football, which helps his team, and he also likes getting his team on the road early in the season.

“It’s good for us to get on the road and get away and get those reps early,” Ellis said. “It forces our kids to sort through playing on the road and it helps us in district. These types of games prepare us for longer road trips, and we get that experience early in the year.”

Champion has missed the postseason two of the last three years and Ellis hopes this is the year they get back in.

Boerne High

The Greyhounds are home Friday and draw a tough one to start 2025 by hosting Pieper. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

The Warriors have quickly emerged as one of the top programs in the greater San Antonio area and were the last team to beat Smithson Valley before the Rangers went on to win state last season.

Pieper edged the Greyhounds in last year’s opener in a close one, 38-36. The Warriors graduated a lot of talent, but BHS coach Brett Sawyer said Pieper has done a great job of replacing those players.

“They are very talented and have replaced what they lost really well,” he said. “It will be a fun and challenging game. We look forward to getting better and we are excited about the challenge.”

Sawyer begins his first year as the Greyhounds head coach after serving the past seven seasons as the defensive coordinator.

BHS moved up to 5A last year and won the regional title and Sawyer said he wants to keep that momentum going.

Geneva School of Boerne

Just like the Greyhounds, the Eagles have a new head coach, who was also promoted from within.

Bob Rosenstiel has been with the program a few years and slid into the top spot when Grant Gaston left last spring.

The Eagles travel to San Antonio Friday to take on S.A. Christian, 7 p.m. Rosenstiel said Geneva is familiar with the Lions.

The Eagles played them last year and held a 20-17 lead going into the fourth quarter but let it slip away and lost to SACS, 37-28.

“We’ve watched film and are familiar with them from our 7 on 7 league,” Rosenstiel said. “They’re comparable to last year. They beat us but we were young last year.”