Boerne High may have had a slow start on Friday when the Greyhounds visited Alamo Heights for a district contest at Orem Stadium, but it was a different story in the last two quarters as BHS tallied five second-half touchdowns and went on to defeat the Mules in the district opener for both schools, 38-31.
Friday’s contest keeps the Greyhounds perfect this year at 5-0 and hands the Mules (4-1, 0-1) their first loss of the season. BHS (5-0, 1-0) is off Friday and returns to action on Oct. 8 against Long Creek at BISD Stadium.
There was a lot of media attention on the game, and it was just about everybody’s “Game of the Week” and Greyhounds coach Brett Sawyer said that’s what made it fun.
“It was awesome, the kids loved it,” he said. “It was intense the whole time. It was a high-pressure game and we got the chance to see how our kids handle high-pressure situations, it was great.”
Both offenses struggled in the first half, but the Mules found the end zone one time after Easton Stone tossed a 23-yard TD pass to Landon Balldin and took a 7-3 lead into halftime after Boerne’s only points came on a Diego Jimenez field goal right before the break.
“We felt like we were in control even though they were leading at halftime,” Sawyer said. “We felt like we had control of the game and would be fine in the second half.”
The Greyhounds heated up in the third quarter as they recorded three TDs in the period and had five in the half. It started on their opening drive after Grant Sweeney tossed a TD pass to Jacob Hicks and Boerne took a 10-7 lead with 8:50 left in the period.
Boerne’s defense came up with a big play after Cash Gatlin recovered a fumble on a backwards pass, or lateral, at the Mules 4-yard line. On the first play after the turnover, Sweeney found Hicks again on a sliding catch near the pylon, and the Greyhounds had tallied two touchdowns in 1:07 for the 17-7 lead.
“When you get a turnover inside the 5-yard line, it changes the momentum of the game,” Sawyer said.
Alamo Heights scored a couple of touchdowns in the third quarter and jumped back on top. Stone capped a 9-play, 75-yard drive with a short run and then after a Boerne punt, Murray Gray returned the kick 84 yards for a score and the 4-point lead.
Special teams have played a big role whenever the two teams meet, according to Sawyer.
“Since I’ve been in Boerne, we lost to them twice and in both games they returned a punt or kickoff for a touchdown,” he said. “They returned one in the JV game the day before, but I’m glad we overcame it.”
The Gray punt return gave the Mules a 21-17 advantage, but the lead didn’t last long after Boerne answered with its third touchdown of the third quarter. Sweeney found Lane Aaron on a 22-yard scoring strike and the Greyhounds capped an 8-play, 82-yard drive and regained the lead, 24-21, and never trailed from there.
Callan Combs added to Boerne’s advantage with a rushing touchdown after the BHS defense stopped the Mules on 4th and 5 at the 43. The Hounds took advantage of a short field and Combs punched it in from the 2-yard line and BHS had extended the lead to 31-21, with 7:26 left.
After Cooper Kirk intercepted a Stone pass and gave the Greyhounds another short field, Sweeney bumped Boerne’s lead to 38-21 with 4:51 remaining in the game after Sweeney took it to the house on a 58-yard gallop with a rushing touchdown.
The Kirk interception was their second of the game after Alex Martinez also picked off a Mules pass in the first half.
Alamo Heights closed out the game with the final 10 points as Boerne’s defense bent but didn’t break and the Greyhounds recorded the 38-31 win. Balldin caught his second TD pass of the night from Stone to make it 38-28 with less than three minutes.
Alamo Heights recovered an onside kick and moved the ball within striking distance. They managed a 34-yard field goal and it was 38-31 with under two minutes left.
The Mules tried another onside kick, but it was recovered by Austin Gerbes. The Hounds were forced to punt and the Mules had 37 seconds to work with but didn’t come close to scoring as the clock struck midnight for the Mules and the Greyhounds celebrated the win.
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