At one point this season the Boerne High football team stood at 2-3 after losses to Pieper, East Central and Alamo Heights through five games, but Greyhounds coach Che Hendrix said his team never panicked.
Hendrix said they stayed the course and knew playing those teams would make them better and pay off in the long run.
That seems to be the case as Boerne has reeled off six straight wins since starting 2-3, including last Thursday’s first-round playoff contest at home against Carroll.
The Greyhounds (8-3) look to make it seven straight Thursday when they travel to Laredo to face Edcouch-Elsa in the second round of the 5A-DII playoffs.
Kickoff is set for Thursday at Laredo’s Shirley Field, 7 p.m.
The Greyhounds played for the state title in 2022 and many of those players are still on the team. Hendrix said that experience has served the team well, especially after their start.
“That is the best part of a veteran team, your players don’t doubt and start pointing fingers, they stay the course,” he said. “That’s what makes this group special, we’ve come together and figured it out and that’s the sign of a veteran team and a veteran program.”
Thursday’s opponent, Edcouch-Elsa, is having a solid season and enters the contest at 9-2 overall. The Yellowjackets won their district at 5-0.
Edcouch-Elsa defeated Mission Veterans Memorial in their playoff opener last week, 15-7. It was the second time they faced the Patriots after the Yellowjackets also beat them in non-district, 39-12.
Hendrix said Edcouch-Elsa likes to keep the ball on the ground and will run it 70 to 75 percent of the time.
“They’re having a really good year, and they’re well coached and play hard,” Hendrix said. “They use a lot of quarterback runs and then try to play good defense off that.”
Yellowjackets quarterback Elijah Trevino leads the team in rushing touchdowns and while they don’t throw a lot, Hendrix said when Edcouch-Elsa does throw it, they like to take shots deep down the field.
Defensively, the Yellowjackets like to use a 4-man front and have done a good job holding opponents from scoring a lot. In fact, the most points they’ve given up in a game this year is 26 in a 28-26 win over Pace.
They’ve held four different opponents to 7 points apiece, gave up 9 in another contest and have a shutout under their belt for a total of 37 points surrendered in those 6 games.
The Greyhounds are coming off a 39-21 win last Thursday against C.C. Carroll and hosted their first playoff game in the school’s 100-year history.
Boerne’s defense didn’t allow a first down until the second quarter, on Carroll’s fourth possession of the game.
The Greyhounds were up 39-7 at one point before Hendrix started moving players in and out and the Tigers were able to score two late touchdowns that made it seem closer than it actually was.
Carroll’s only TD through the first three quarters came on a kickoff return, and after looking at film, Hendrix said one of his players slipped on the play and two others went the wrong direction, but added that they addressed that in practice.
As far as moving players in and out, Hendrix said they moved up nine athletes from the JV squad and noted that they are gaining valuable playoff experience that will serve them well in the future.
“It was guys that we wanted to bring up and practice and hopefully play,” he said. “They can help our team, so it’s good for us. We want to plant some seeds that will pay off in the future.”
One thing that makes BHS tough offensively is that they have so many weapons. They had 5 different players score touchdowns, 2 rushing – Hutson Hendrix and Jeff Morrison – and had 3 catch TD passes from Hank Hendrix – Brooks Perez, Eli Nikolas and Walker Hill.
In total, Boerne had 8 different receivers catch a pass and 7 different players run with the ball.
Defensively, Hutson Hendrix led the team with 8 tackles, Ryan Hooper added 6 stops and Blake Burkholder came up with 2 sacks, while Jaxon Baize had a fumble recovery.
If the Greyhounds win Thursday, coach Hendrix said they are looking at playing the Friday after Thanksgiving.
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