All three 11-man football teams from Boerne will play Thanksgiving weekend. It’s the first time that all three teams have advanced to the third round and played the day after the holiday in the same year.
Champion, Boerne High and Geneva School of Boerne all have the chance to practice Thanksgiving week, a milestone for a high school team.
This is Boerne’s sixth time in eight years to play Thanksgiving weekend, while it’s the first time for Champion and Geneva since 2019.
In 2019, Champion won on Thanksgiving weekend on its way to its deepest playoff run in school history. They advanced to the state semifinals against Fort Bend Marshall, who was led by current Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane.
Also in 2019, Geneva won its first 11-man state title that year and it was their second straight season to play for the championship. The Eagles lost in the title game in 2018 but returned to win it all in 2019.
The BISD head coaches said they will have a team meal after practices on Wednesday, while the Eagles will have theirs on Tuesday. All will have short practices on Thanksgiving morning.
Boerne High
The Greyhounds start things off on Friday and face Gregory Portland at Comalander, 1 p.m.
At this point, there are only 16 UIL teams left in each division, so the only teams left are pretty elite.
Both the Greyhounds and Wildcats enter the contest at 11-1.
“They’re a good team; they’re very well coached and very sound in what they do,” BHS coach Brett Sawyer said. “They’re not going to beat themselves, their quarterback is real good, he’s hard to tackle and shifty.”
Boerne and Gregory-Portland have two mutual opponents on their schedule. The Greyhounds and Wildcats have both played and beat Kerrville Tivy and Corpus Christi Ray.
Sawyer said he doesn’t pay much attention to scores against common opponents.
“Every game is different, and I never put stock in previous scores,” Sawyer said. “They’re good on offense and score a lot of points and they’re good defensively, that’s all we need to know.”
For what it’s worth, BHS beat Ray 42-13 and defeated Pioneer 42-17, while GP topped Tivy 75-50 and beat Ray, 56-9.
BHS lineman Jonny Waters, who had a touchdown last week on a trick play, said he’s excited about the opportunity to play Thanksgiving weekend.
“It’s awesome, it’s different,” he said. “Playing over Thanksgiving is a big deal.”
Geneva School of Boerne Geneva (10-2) travels to Abilene to play Lubbock Christian (10-1) at Abilene Christian School on Friday, 4 p.m.
The Eagles have been scoring a lot in the playoffs and defeated Bishop Gorman, 49-12, and knocked off All Saints last week, 59-42.
Lubbock Christian can light up the scoreboard as well and beat Trinity Christian 52-18 and eliminated Holy Cross last week, 48-27.
“It could be another shootout,” Geneva coach Bob Rosenstiel said. “It’s a winnable game but they’re good on both side of the ball and we have to play clean.”
Boerne Champion
None of the players on the Champion team were around back in 2019 when the Chargers played Thanksgiving weekend, but two of the players on this year’s team said that was one of their goals to start the season.
Champion wide receiver Brogan Dempsey, who has 22 receiving touchdowns this year, said he’s excited.
“It’s absolutely awesome. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid,” he said. “We’re all ready.”
Charger linebacker Alex Sansone said it’s been a while since he played on Thanksgiving weekend.
“It means everything to me,” he said. “I grew up in Massachusetts playing Thanksgiving football, and I haven’t played Thanksgiving football in five or six years; this means a lot.”
Champion and New Braunfels met on Oct. 10, and the Unicorns won, 27-17. Since then, the Chargers have won six straight and head coach Blane Ellis said they’re excited about the rematch.
“We’ve had our eyes on this game because we knew it was possible, and we’re excited to see them again,” he said. “This is the first time in my coaching career that we’ve had a second chance to play a team in the same year that beat us.”
Ellis added that NB has added a few new wrinkles but is basically the same.
“They’re doing a couple of things differently formationally, but they’re still good and have stayed healthy,” he said. “They find ways to run the football and throw off that. They’re a quality team and we have a ton of respect for them.”
There are only four teams left in each region and all four from Region IV-5A DI are from District 13-5A DI – Champion, New Braunfels, Smithson Valley and Pieper.
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