After capping the best football season in Boerne ISD history in 2022, Boerne High head coach Che Hendrix has had a few months to reflect on his team playing in the state championship game.
Hendrix has also had time to digest the entire 2022 season that turned out to be very special for the Greyhounds and said the first thing that comes to mind is pride.
“I have a ton of pride in our team, in our seniors and in our leadership, a ton of pride in the under classman and pride in our coaching staff,” he said. “I also have a lot of pride in the community, the support from the sendoff and having Main Street closed down and having the fans in the stands when we came out of the tunnel.”
BHS lost in the 4A DI state championship game to China Spring at AT&T Stadium in Arlington last December and Hendrix said he knows getting back there won’t be easy but he, his staff and the team embrace the challenge.
“At the end of the day, we have to go work and go prepare,” he said. “Playing with a target on your back and as a favorite is tough but we handled it so well last year and I have a lot of faith our guys will handle it well again this year.”
Texas Football magazine has the Hounds ranked No. 2 in its 4A DI preseason poll and the program has drawn state-wide attention, but Hendrix said he knows it doesn’t guarantee anything.
“We’re flattered by the compliments and I’m appreciative of the acknowledgement, that’s awesome but we have to get to work,” he said. “I’m the first to tell the team to enjoy it and be thankful because it hasn’t always been that way.”
Last year’s team set a bunch of BISD records such as most wins in a season (15), longest win streak after they were 15-0 at one point, deepest playoff run after playing in the state finals and having the largest crowd to watch a BISD football game in person with more than 17,000 in attendance in the title tilt.
Hendrix said another thing he realized about last season is how hard it was to get to the championship game.
“It’s tough, you’re talking about playing six extra games, it is tough to get there,” he said.
A look at the schedule Every team faces obstacles every year and it seems like the Greyhounds have had their share of those early and will have more when the season starts.
BISD Stadium, Boerne’s home field, is getting new turf installed so in August the entire program has to load buses and drive to either BMSN or Champion to use their fields for practices.
Hendrix said he’s glad the team is facing some adversity early in the season because it’ll help prepare them for later on.
“It’ll be hot and we’ll have to travel because our field’s getting redone so we’ll be in buses and we’ll be traveling,” he said. “We’ll have a lot going on that’s not football related so it’ll make it tough on us early in the year, which I’m actually pretty excited about.”
Another thing that Hendrix noted is that the team will be on the road for its first three games of the season and won’t play at home until they host Gregory- Portland Sept. 15.
“We’ve got all kinds of bus trips ahead of us, so can we play on the road and can we handle ourselves?” Hendrix added. “There’s going to be a lot of adversity early in this year and how we handle that I think will determine kind of where we end up.”
The Hounds have road games at CC Flour Bluff, Pleasanton and Antonian to start the season and then play Gregory-Portland at home.
After a trip to Salado, they’ll open district at the Honey Bowl in Uvalde before playing three straight at home against Memorial, Kennedy and Somerset before closing it out at Fredericksburg.
The Hounds are picked to win the district title.
A look at the team
Texas Football magazine lists players to watch as McCoy Bruce, T.J. Dement, Logan Schram, Jaxon Baize, Hutson Hendrix, Charlie Stahl, Braden Bays, Adam Hicks, Blake Burkholder, Brooks Perez, Trendon McCarter, Cole Durham, Carson Coffland, Grady Jackson, Garrett Portis and Javier Benavidez.
Also, the Hounds had a move-in from Geneva, all-state lineman Logan Fritcher, along with a few other move-ins.
Baize shined in his sophomore year as the team’s quarterback and threw for 3,500 yards and 53 TDs and Coach Hendrix said Baize has been working hard.
“He’s had a great offseason, he’s very fit, he’s been to some camps this summer and I think he’s ready to have another huge year well,” Hendrix said.
Hendrix said one of their keys to success has been having a deep bench.
“We sub early, we try to get our 1s and 2s in on both sides, all in the first half,” he said. “We play a lot of guys and that ends up being 40 to 50 guys in a half. We develop that on purpose.”
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