Boerne High vs. Richmond Randle Friday, Dec. 12, at the Alamodome, 7 p.m.
Boerne High will get another crack at Richmond Randle Friday when the Greyhounds face the Lions for the second consecutive year in the 5A-DII state semifinals.
BHS (13-1) and Randle (14-0) meet Friday in the Alamodome, 7 p.m., with Friday’s winner advancing to the 5A-DII state title game next weekend in Arlington.
Richmond won last year’s game against the Greyhounds in Waco, 42-7, and Boerne coach Brett Sawyer said they learned a lot from the game.
“We showed (this year’s team) the film to see what we can do better at, and there were things we did good and some things we did bad,” Sawyer said. “When we talk about this year’s game, it’s not so much from a revenge angle, but an opportunity to fix things we left on the table.”
Randle has only been around four years and won a state title last year in just its third season of varsity football. They’ve been on a roll the last few seasons and haven’t lost a game since they were defeated in the third round of the playoffs by Huntsville (14-13) to end the 2023 season at 11-2.
Since that playoff loss, the Lions are 30-0 and won last year’s state title with a 38-35 victory over South Oak Cliff. They’ve gone 41-2 in the last three seasons, and Sawyer said the Lions are as good as advertised.
“They have a lot of the same players back,” he said. “They’re fast and well coached.”
The Greyhounds are coming off a 56-49 victory over Alamo Heights, while the Lions defeated Iowa Colony, 45-35.
Boerne is going from the frying pan and into the fire as far as running backs. In last week’s game, DK Garza ran for 312 yards and 5 TDs, while Randle junior Landon Williams-Callis ran for 221 yards and 5 touchdowns in their win.
Williams-Callis has the most college scholarship offers of anybody in the state, regardless of position. It’s currently at 60+ offers and counting, and the five-star recruit is the highest recruited running back in his class nationally.
“He’s a great player; we faced him last year as a sophomore. We’ll try to keep him bottled up. That’s an easy thing to say and a hard thing to do,” Sawyer said. “(Garza and Williams-Callis) are both really good, but (Williams- Callis) is a different kind of runner, he’s faster.”
In last year’s contest, the Hounds held Williams-Callis to 49 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown, but the Lions hurt the Greyhounds with their passing game. Randle QB Tyler Skrabanek is back from last year and helped the Lions total 300 passing yards against the BHS defense.
Sawyer said the key on both sides of the ball will be assignment football.
“We have to execute the game plan and don’t be a superhero,” he said. “If somebody tries to go rogue, these guys will make you pay for it.”
The Greyhounds have a few weapons of their own as quarterback Grant Sweeney enters Friday’s contest with 4,000 passing yards and 37 TDs through the air, while the talented junior is the team’s leading rusher with 1,052 ground yards and 19 more touchdowns for 56 total TDs.
Callan Combs is their second leading rusher with 856 yards and 9 touchdowns, while Jeff Morrison has tallied 11 TDs and 688 ground yards.
Zach Freasier is Boerne’s top receiver with 1,123 yards and 11 TDs, Will Traylor is closing in on the 1,000-yard mark and has 997 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns, while Eli Nikolas has 914 receiving yards and 10 TDs.
Cooper Thompson leads the defense with 128 tackles, Cash Gatlin is at 117 tackles, Blake Burkholder has 95 stops, while Kole Traylor and Rory Hotchkin both have 83 tackles and Robert Estes has 82.
Sawyer said every team left at this point is elite and has a lot of weapons.
“There are only four teams left, and they’re all good, and that’s what you’re going to get,” he said. “We’re in the final four and anything can happen.”
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