With a little over 30 seconds left in their bi-district playoff game, the Boerne Greyhounds lined up in victory formation to take a knee and run out the clock against the Taylor Ducks.
Leading by a score of 42-13, the Greyhounds watched as the clock ticked down to zero as they claimed their trophy.
“We played well, Taylor’s got a great program, they did a good job this year. Proud of their coaches for keeping then together and getting them to playoffs,” Greyhounds head coach Che Hendrix said. “We respect them a lot and it was a good ball game. They came out to battle tonight and we played really well, and I am just proud of our guys.”
The Ducks started the game with that ball and came out aggressive on offense. The Ducks were facing a fourth down with only a few yards to go deep in Boerne territory when head coach Brandon Houston decided to be even more aggressive and try to get a first down.
The plan didn’t go the Ducks’ way after a defensive stop by Boerne and the Greyhounds were ready to take control.
Boerne took over at their own 17-yard line and eventually hit a 60-yard touchdown pass from Jaxon Baize to Braden Baize for the 7-0 lead with five minutes left in the quarter after Joe Ballenger kicked the extra point.
“We knew they were a good team, and we knew they weren’t going to punt a lot, so we were just trying to extend our possessions,” Houston said.
The Greyhounds had a lot of success running the football Thursday night thanks to great play from the offensive line.
The successful running game did early damage to the Ducks defense as they put three scores on the board quickly and had a 21-0 lead early.
Bode Brown scored on a 1-yard plunge with 2:35 left in the opening quarter to make it 14-0 and then Houston Hendrix added a 3-yard TD run early in the second quarter and it was 21-0.
The Hendrix TD was set up by a Charlie Stahl fumble recovery.
Later in the second after a McCoy Bruce interception set up the offense in good shape, Jaxon Baize found TJ Dement for an 18-yard touchdown pass and it was 28-0 after the Ballenger PAT with 4:35 left until halftime.
Taylor finally got on the board late in the second quarter after Ducks senior quarterback Ryan Valdez found Jacob Mikulencak wide open for a 73-yard touchdown on a busted coverage by the BHS defense to make it 28-7 with 3:39 left until intermission.
But the Greyhounds answered and scored once more before the break. Braden Baize scrambled in from 18 yards and the Ballenger kick made it 35-7 with 1:20 left in the half.
After halftime the Greyhounds picked up where they left off running the ball effectively and added another score to increase their lead.
Boerne tacked on another touchdown early in the second half after Dement scored on the second play from scrimmage on a 65-yard burst that he took to the house to make it 42-7 at the 11:24 mark of the third.
The Greyhounds ran the ball so well that standout quarterback Jaxon Baize did not have to throw the ball often.
“We’re a balanced team and we want to do whatever to help us win,” Coach Hendrix said. “If we can run it, we’ll run it and if we can throw it, we’ll throw it. But we were real balanced tonight, we ran the ball well and it opened up shots downfield.”
With time running out the Ducks had one more shot on offense to find the end zone and did just that to bring the final score to 42-13.
Andrias Fisher scored on a 17-yard gallop into the end with 1:17 left in the game. The extra point was missed, and the score stayed at 42-13.
Despite the loss, Houston was extremely proud of his group and said a lot of people will talk about this season’s team in the near future.
“I told them that we are the team that has laid the foundation,” Houston said. “We planted the seeds; we just have to keep watering them.”
The Ducks season has come to an end at 5-6, but the Greyhounds remain hungry and on the hunt for a state championship trophy.
Boerne’s historic season continues as the Greyhounds move to 11-0. They’ll play the winner of the Pleasanton – Tuloso-Midway match up that took place Friday night.
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