SAN ANTONIO — There have been many exciting games played over the years between Boerne High and Alamo Heights in their storied rivalry, but last Friday’s football game at Alamo Stadium may have topped them all.
The Greyhounds won an instant classic after they scored with 10 seconds left and went on to defeat the Mules, 56-49.
BHS head coach Brett Sawyer said it was a night that will stick with him for a bit.
“What a game for the ages,” he said. “You remember games like these for a long, long time.”
Last Friday’s contest between the Mules and the Hounds was their second this season. BHS beat AH by two points in district play in a relatively low-scoring game, 37-35, but Friday’s playoff contest turned into a shootout, something that kind of surprised Sawyer.
“I knew it was going to be a really close game because we’re evenly matched teams,” he said. “I didn’t know it was going to be such a shootout.”
The first half alone featured nine ties or lead changes and a combined 62 points, and before it was over, the teams had combined for 105 points and 14 touchdowns.
BHS scored on its first seven possessions of the game, including all six possessions in the first half.
The Greyhounds were up 21-14 at the end of the opening quarter after Boerne quarterback Grant Sweeney tallied all three BHS TDs on the ground, while Alamo Heights running back DK Garza scored twice in the first stanza.
Garza finished the game with 312 rushing yards and 5 TDs on 30 carries, but Sweeney matched him with 320 passing yards and three TDs through the air, while Sweeney also rushed for 144 yards and four touchdowns on 20 totes.
Sawyer said it was fun watching two great athletes going at it like they were.
“They’re incredible players,” he said. “I’m glad to have one of them, I wish we had both.”
In the second quarter, Sweeney tossed his first TD pass of the game to Will Traylor, while Garza tacked on two more rushing touchdowns, and it was tied 28-28.
With 4:19 left before halftime, the Hounds marched 63 yards and settled for a Diego Jimenez field goal with 48 seconds left before halftime and pulled ahead 31-28.
Alamo Heights still had 39 ticks on the clock after the kickoff and completed a short pass, but Boerne’s Austin Gerbes stripped the ball from the receiver and recovered the ball with 32 seconds left at the Mules’ 32-yard line.
BHS worked it down to the 3-yard line and kicked another Jimenez field goal as time expired and took a 34-28 lead into the half.
The Greyhounds received the opening kickoff of the second half and scored in just three plays after Sweeney found Eli Nikolas on a 51-yard pass completion and Boerne was up 41-28.
It looked like the Hounds might start to pull away, but the Mules climbed right back into it. Garza ran for his fifth TD of the night on a 48-yard sprint, and it was 41-35.
The Alamo Heights defense finally came up with a stop and forced a BHS punt, their first of the game, and the Mules scored two plays later after Steffen Torreira busted loose on a 51-yard scamper and AH had tallied two TDs in less than three minutes and actually pulled ahead 42-41.
Sawyer said he knew the Mules wouldn’t quit, but he also knew his team would respond after Alamo Heights had taken its first lead.
“These kids aren’t going to quit, or we wouldn’t be here,” Sawyer said. “The teams that kind of shut it down, they don’t make it this far.”
After their last touchdown, the Mules went with an onside kick that didn’t work, and the Greyhounds had a short field and took advantage of it. Just four plays later, Sweeney capped a 42-yard drive with his fourth TD run of the night, and BHS was back on top, 48-42.
At that point, the teams traded turnovers and after a BHS interception, the Mules took over at their own 19. AH went on an impressive 13-play, 81-yard drive that chewed 7:33 off the clock and went into their bag of tricks to score.
On a 4th and goal from the Boerne 8-yard line, Garza took the snap, flipped the ball to wide receiver Alex Cross, who then tossed it to a wideopen Landon Balldin in the end zone, and the Mules had pulled ahead by a point 49-48.
While the drive took almost eight minutes off the clock, Boerne still had 1:55 to work with.
After a good return on the kickoff, Sweeney went to work. The Hounds started at their own 35 and converted two third downs on the drive.
BHS faced a 2nd and 10 at the AH 21 and that’s when Sweeney dropped back to pass and found Freasier in the end zone for the game winner with 10 seconds left.
Sweeney said his scrambling ability is what helped open up the play.
“Running is a big part of my game. Having the dual-threat ability makes the defense guess if I’m running or throwing. I started rolling out and the (defense) came to me and I saw Zach open in the end zone for a touchdown,” he said. “We were trying to take time off the clock; I was trying to get out of the pocket and waste more time. I knew the safety wasn’t there because he got pulled away and I just took a shot and I got it.”
Sweeney then ran in the two-point try to make it 56-49. The Mules had the kickoff and snapped it one time after that but weren’t able to move the ball, and the celebration began for the Greyhounds.
“That was probably the best game I’ve ever played in,” Sweeney said. “We knew it was going to be like that from the get-go.”
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