Wilkinson returns to Boerne to lead his Cowboys against the Greyhounds

Former Boerne High assistant coach David Wilkinson will make a return trip to Boerne this Friday to lead McCollum against the Greyhounds.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at BISD Stadium on Thursday.

Wilkinson served as the offensive coordinator for the past four seasons at BHS but left last spring to take the head coaching job at McCollum.

In his first year with the Cowboys, Wilkinson faces Boerne High’s firstyear head coach Brett Sawyer, who took over after Che Hendrix left last year as well.

Wilkinson and Sawer served on the same staff at Boerne as coordinators and were also together at Sweeny before that, so they are good friends.

Ironically, this will not be the first time Wilkinson and Sawyer will be pitted against each other as head coaches.

Back in 2016 when Sawyer was the head coach at Baytown Sterling and Wilkinson was the head coach at Baytown Lee, their teams met and Sawyer’s team won 30-8.

Sawyer said it will be good to see his longtime friend.

“It will be fun to have Coach Wilkinson back in Boerne, he was a big part of our success in the four years he was here,” Sawyer said. “He has been a good friend for years when he was my offensive coordinator in Sweeny in 2010 and 2011.”

In another plot twist to Thursday’s game, Wilkinson’s son, Bobby Jett Wilkinson, plays for the Greyhounds and will go up against a team coached by his dad.

“I haven’t said much to Bobby Jett about it,” Sawyer said. “It’s a huge deal for him and I don’t want to make it bigger than it needs to be.”

In his first year at McCollum, the Cowboys are 2-6 overall and 1-3 in district and are out of the playoff mix. After Boerne, McCollum closes out the season next Friday against Harlandale in the “Frontier Bowl” as the Cowboys play the Indians in one of the best attended football games in the San Antonio area.

The Cowboys beat Veterans Memorial 24-21 for their only district win but have dropped their last two to Kerrville Tivy and Alamo Heights by lopsided scores of 63-14 and 69-7.

The Greyhounds have clinched a playoff spot, but it’s just a matter of where they’ll finish up in the standings. Alamo Heights and Kerrville Tivy both have one loss, but the Mules have lost to the Greyhounds and Boerne and Tivy have yet to play.

Alamo Heights and Kerrville Tivy meet this weekend, so one of them will have a second loss, while Boerne visits the Antlers next Friday.

Boerne is coming off a 45-27 win at Veterans Memorial and afterwards, Sawyer said there are always things they want to improve.

“Our main focus is to execute our plan well,” he said. “We have to go into the playoffs firing on all cylinders. We have to be sharp and have fun playing this great game.”

Against the Patriots, Grent Sweeney tossed six touchdown passes on 26 of 40 passing, while also adding 69 rushing yards to lead the ground game.

Zach Freasier caught three of those touchdown passes and totaled 11 catches for 184 yards. Eli Nikolas, Beau Dayoc and Blake Burkholder also had receiving touchdowns.

Defensively, Robert Estes caused two fumbles and recovered one, while Hadden Silva led the Greyhounds in tackles with 10, Cash Gatlin made 9 stops, while Burkholder, Cooper Thompson, Rory Hotchkin and Ronald Smith all tallied 8 tackles.