The Boerne High football season started on Aug. 1 and didn’t end until Dec. 16, and in between, the Greyhounds etched their names into the Boerne ISD athletic record books.
This year’s group raised the bar pretty high for future Boerne ISD football teams. The 2022 Hounds won 15 games, beating the old record of 13 wins set in 2019.
They went further than any other BISD team before them by playing in the state finals and finished with the best football record ever at 15-1.
BHS played football for almost five months and played 16 games. In contrast, an NFL regular season is 17 games.
The memorable 2022 campaign didn’t end like the Greyhounds were hoping as a state title eluded them, ever so slightly.
Boerne went up 21-0 in this year’s 4A DI championship game before China Spring roared back and scored 24 unanswered points to claim the 24-21 victory at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in front of an audience of 17,155 on Dec. 16.
Boerne’s season came down to the last play of their last game as the Cougars kicked the game-winning field goal with time expiring to earn back-to-back state titles.
BHS coach Che Hendrix said he’s sad it’s come to an end.
“I hate that it’s over, I haven’t had a day off since Aug. 1 but I’m not tired and I’m not worn down because it’s a joy to come to work every day with these guys,” he said after the game. “I’m going to hate to lose these seniors and I’m proud of the things they’ve done for us the last few years.”
Immediately after the state finals contest, Coach Hendrix along with seniors Sam Waters, Braden Baize and Houston Hendrix attended a postgame press conference inside the stadium.
With watery eyes, Hous-
BHS head football coach Che Hendrix, the rest of the coaching staff and the players wanted to thank the Boerne community for their support during this season’s historic run. For their thank you letter, see today’s editorial page.
ton Hendrix said he had a blast playing for his dad and with one of his brothers, Hutson Hendrix.
“I get pretty choked up about it, this being the last one but it’s been the best four years ever,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for a better senior year and high school career.”
Baize didn’t even play football last year but returned to the team for his senior season so that he could play with his brother, starting quarterback sophomore Jaxon Baize and they ended up playing for a state championship.
The Baize-to-Baize connection worked well this year for the Hounds, and they even hooked up twice in the championship game with pitch and catch touchdowns of 79 and 16 yards to help spot the Hounds to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Braden Baize said he’s glad he came back to play his senior year and was excited for the future.
“It was awesome playing with (Jaxon) and you couldn’t ask for a better year, such a great group of guys. There’s no one on the team or on the coaching staff I didn’t like. It was an amazing senior year, getting to play at state,” he said. “We had a lot of great underclassmen and we went this far. Hopefully we did well enough that they can keep carrying on the next couple of years.”
There was another set of brothers on the team after Chance Gentry and Cole Gentry were both on the squad.
Waters didn’t have a brother on the team but said everybody on the team seemed like a brother to him.
“The bonds you build are crazy. It was awesome, it was the experience of a lifetime,” he said. “I’m just glad we made it; you couldn’t ask for better people to play with.”
Coach Hendrix said he did a lot of thinking on the drive up to Arlington and added that everything about this season was special.
“With a five-hour bus ride you have a lot of time to reflect on things and it was pretty cool to hear from so many former players and guys I coached with, but the main thing is the bond you form with these guys, we watched them grow up and play,” he said. “This is the best team I’ve ever been a part of.”
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