It’s always a special game when Boerne High and Alamo Heights play on the football field, but this Friday’s game at Alamo Stadium between the two rivals has a lot riding on the outcome.
Boerne High (12-1) and Alamo Heights (12-1) clash in the fourth round or regional finals, with the winner advancing to the state semifinals. This will be their first meeting in the playoffs.
Greyhounds coach Brett Sawyer said he’s excited about the matchup.
“You don’t get to play in the regional finals a whole lot and to play your rival in the regional finals makes it more exciting,” he said. “It’ll be a fun game; it’s why you do this football thing. I guarantee you our kids will remember this game forever.”
It won’t be the first meeting between the two teams this year. The Greyhounds and Mules clashed on Sept. 26 at BISD Stadium, and Boerne won, 37-35.
Boerne’s victory snapped the Mules’ 34-game district winning streak, their first loss in district since 2019.
In that game, the Hounds used a trick play – a wide-receiver pass from Zach Freasier to Eli Nikolas – to give Boerne a 21-7 lead, but the Mules tied it 21–21 with 47 seconds before halftime.
BHS stayed aggressive and managed to move the ball to the Mules 40. With one play left before the halftime break, quarterback Grant Sweeney scrambled around to buy some time and hurled a 50-yard pass into the end zone on a Hail Mary. Boerne received an answered prayer after Nikolas outjumped the defense for a TD catch and the 28-21 lead at the break.
The Hounds went up 37-28 but Alamo Heights running back DK Garza tacked on his fourth rushing TD run of the night late in the fourth quarter and it was 37-35 with 2:41 left, but the Boerne defense sealed the win with an interception, their second of the quarter and third of the game.
Garza ran for 150 yards and four scores and had five catches for 49 yards in that game. The talented back enters Friday’s game with more than 3,000 rushing yards and is averaging 232 ground yards per game and has added 456 receiving yards this year. He’s scored 40 rushing touchdowns and has caught five more scores for 45 total TDs this year.
Sawyer said they’ll have their hands full with Garza and added that the key will be to slow him down.
“You don’t see a ton of people that are that good,” the coach said. “The key defensively is to make him earn it and don’t give away big chunks at a time because you’re out of position. You can’t make mistakes against him and you try not to make mistakes as much as possible.”
Both teams seem relatively healthy, and Sawyer said both teams are better than they were in their first meeting.
“If you play this long, you’re better because you’ve had more reps and we’re in the same boat,” he said. “We’re healthy now and have a couple of big players that are back.”
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