KERRY BARBOZA Sports Editor
DRIPPING SPRINGS – Boerne High bent, but didn’t break during Thursday’s night’s first-round playoff contest at Dripping Springs against Taylor on a wet and windy night.
The Ducks played mightily and were tied with the Greyhounds at 28-28 late in the third quarter, but Boerne put the game away with a couple of fourth-quarter touchdowns to secure a 42-28 victory.
BHS improves to 10-1 and moves to the second round against La Vernia, who defeated Tuloso-Midway Friday.
Boerne coach Che Hendrix said he wasn’t surprised at how well the Ducks played Thursday night.
“That’s what we expected, it’s playoff football. They can score some points and they have a good quarterback and some really good skill guys,” he said. “They played a great football game but I’m proud of our guys for sticking with it, for being tough down the stretch and finishing it off.”
BHS jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after Jaxon Baize hit Brooks Perez on a 35-yard pass on Boerne’s first drive and it was 7-0 just two minutes into the game after the Carson Cooper PAT.
The second quarter turned into a shootout as each team tallied three touchdowns.
The Ducks tied it at 7-7 after Josh Mikulencak connected on a 65-yard bomb to brother Jake Mikulencak early in the second.
Boerne answered after Hutson Hendrix punched it in on a 1st and goal at the 6 out of the Wildcat formation to help the Hounds pull ahead 14-7.
Weston Klutts recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to give the Hounds the ball at the Taylor 24. From there, Adam Hicks scooted into the end zone on the first play after the turnover and the Hounds were leading 21-7 and had scored two TDs 13 seconds apart. However the Ducks weren’t going away quietly. The Mikulenc ak-to-Mikulencak connection worked again for Taylor as the bothers had a pitch and catch of 39 yards for a score to trim the lead to 21-14.
Hicks fired back with another rushing touchdown right before the half and bumped the Boerne lead to 28-14 with just 38 seconds left until the break, but that left too much time on the clock for Taylor.
After a good kickoff return that moved the ball past midfield, the Ducks scored four plays later. Taylor’s Treos Richardson caught a Mikulencak pass in the end zone with one second left to make it 28-21 going into the break.
“They hit two long balls on us, but if you take away those two big plays, we played them pretty good,” Coach Hendrix said. “Nobody panicked or worried, it’s a football game and our guys had to compete, it was one of those nights.”
Taylor tied it late in the third after an interception gave them the ball at the Boerne 28. Jackson Meller, who intercepted the ball, carried it in on a 6-yard run for Taylor and it was knotted at 28-all late in the third.
The Hounds had the wind at their back in the fourth quarter and basically ran the ball. A Hutson Hendrix punt pinned the Ducks back at their own 1-yard line and the tide started to swing Boerne’s way for good.
“That helped us, we pinned them with a punt and they couldn’t get going and didn’t want to take a chance into the wind, that was a big factor,” Coach Hendrix said.
Taylor couldn’t get a first down on the drive and punted from their own end zone into the wind.
BHS took over at the Ducks’ 43 and gave Taylor a steady dose of Hutson Hendrix running with the ball.
Hendrix eventually scored on a short run and BHS had some breathing room at 35-28.
From there, the Boerne defense came up big on Taylor’s next drive. The Ducks threw into the wind and rain and McCoy Bruce picked off a pass and the Hounds set up shop in Taylor territory once again, this time at the Ducks’ 45.
Just like their previous drive, Hutson Hendrix ran with the rock as they pounded Taylor and chewed more than five minutes off the clock before Baize scrambled in from the 7-yard line to make it 42-28.
At that point, the Ducks only had two minutes to work with and took it deep into Boerne territory but didn’t score.
“Our mindset is to throw the ball to score and run the ball to win,” Coach Hendrix said. “When you have to run the ball to win a game, that’s what we’ve done over the last several years. It was unbelievable to watch us go out and execute and kill the clock.”
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