Boerne hosts Medina Valley for homecoming, Champion plays Laredo Alexander Thursday
Both Boerne ISD football teams are home this week at Boerne ISD Stadium for the first time this year.
The Chargers (2-0) host Laredo Alexander (1-1) on Thursday and the Greyhounds (1-1) play Medina Valley (1-1) for homecoming on Friday.
Boerne Champion
One thing the 2025 Chargers can do this year is score. They tallied 58 against Laredo United South and dropped 48 on previously undefeated Medina Valley.
Champion enters the Alexander game averaging 53 points per game and has scored in seven of eight quarters this year. The only stanza they didn’t score was in last week’s third quarter vs. Medina Valley.
The Panthers put together a nine-minute drive to start the half and only left three minutes on the clock in the third for the Chargers.
Champion moved the ball into Panthers’ territory and pulled within field goal range as the drive stalled but ran out of time and kicked the field goal on their first snap of the fourth quarter.
The Chargers scored five times in the first half against the Panthers and had 31 points by halftime.
“Our offense was tremendous,” Chargers coach Blane Ellis said. “We capitalized on each possession we had.”
Speaking of tremendous, Charger QB Julian Navarrete tossed four TD passes to wide receiver Brogan Dempsey to account for all their scores through the air in Castroville.
Navarrete was an efficient 15 for 17 for 255 yards and 4 TDs with no interceptions, while Dempsey hauled in those four scores and had 6 catches for 168 yards.
Navarrete ran for a touchdown, while Zachary Garcia carried the rock 12 times for 97 yards and a score.
Defensively, the Chargers came up with five fumble recoveries, three in the last quarter to turn Medina Valley away and keep the Panthers off the board after they had cut the lead to 10.
“Our defense did a great job of adjusting and giving a slightly different look. We needed to limit the QB run and our kids were able to adjust well,” Ellis said. “They put the ball in the dirt five times, and we came up with all of them.”
Alexander is 1-1 and has been on both ends of lopsided games. The Bulldogs beat Northside Marshall in their first game, 48-14, and lost last week to Gregory- Portland, 35-7.
Boerne High
No doubt BHS head coach Brett Sawyer will be watching the film of last week’s Medina Valley – Boerne Champion game since the Panthers will be at BISD Stadium on Friday for homecoming.
The Panthers run the veer offense very well and are led by quarterback Xavier Gonzalez, who likes to run. Gonzalez led all rushers in last Friday’s game with Champion and finished with 110 yards on 16 carries and had two of their three scores.
Gonzalez also completed all 7 pass attempts for 89 yards and no scores, but make no mistake, they are a run-first team.
Sawyer said there are several different ways they are going to attack the run when the Hounds are on defense.
“First, we must be very physical, secondly, we need to execute our technique and third, we have to tackle well,” he said.
The Greyhounds were in a back-and-forth tussle with Laredo United last week. Boerne was trailing late but scored with less than a minute left when Grant Sweeney hit Zach Freasier on a 53-yard bomb, and the Greyhounds pulled ahead, 35-31.
The Longhorns still had a minute to work with and made it to the Boerne 43, but a sack knocked them back to the 50 and they had one last chance at a Hail Mary that didn’t work to give Sawyer his first win as a Greyhound coach.
Sawyer said it was a tough day overall since it was on a Thursday in Laredo and it was really hot.
“Getting on a bus for that long and playing in the heat in Laredo against a very good United team is a lot for our kids that haven’t made a road trip like that before,” he said. “They stayed focused and were able to overcome adversity and find a way to win.”
The coach noted that last week’s win added to their confidence.
“I feel like it really bonded us and helped secure our culture on and off the field,” he said.
Sweeney threw two touchdown passes in the contest, one was the game winner to Freasier and another to Eli Nikolas. Both Freasier and Nikolas passed the 100-yard receiving mark after Nikolas recorded 105 receiving yards on 9 catches, while Freasier tallied 101 yards on 6 passes.
Defensively, Hudson Bruce led the team with 11 tackles; Jake Perez and Cooper Thompson both added 9 tackles, while Kole Traylor and Blake Burkholder came up with 7 tackles each.
Traylor also came up with an interception in the game, while Cash Gatlin and Simon Mecke-Lozano both recovered fumbles.
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