The 2024 Boot Bowl between Burleson and Centennial begins new eras for both schools

Friday's game will be the Elks' first under new head coach Phillip Tanner and the Spartans' first running a new offense around talented sophomore quarterback

BURLESON – The cross-town rival Burleson Elks and Centennial Spartans varsity football teams will face off Friday at Burleson ISD Stadium in the 2024 Boot Bowl as both programs begin new eras.

The Boot Bowl will be the Elks’ first game under new head coach Phillip Tanner. It will be the Spartans’ first game running an offense other than the option-based offense the team has built its reputation on since 2014.

Over the course of the rivalry game Friday, Tanner said he wants to show the Burleson community that the Elks are ready to be a tough team that plays with grit.

“That’s one game that when we walk off that field–win, lose or draw–the other team is going to say ‘That’s a tough team,’” Tanner said.

On the other side of the field, Centennial Spartans head coach Kyle Geller expects Tanner to have the Elks playing hard. “That’s [Tanner’s] reputation,” Geller said.

Tanner’s establishing culture at Burleson

Tanner’s reputation indeed precedes him as he’s harped on building a tough, gritty, strong team since Burleson introduced him as head coach in April.

“Every time you interview me, I’m going to say the same thing about getting stronger,” Tanner said.

Tanner’s been establishing that culture with the Elks since he was hired. What’s gone into that has been consistency, clarity and showing up for and pushing the players. His goal is to make Elks Football a sustainable program, which he thinks starts with him at the top.

“To be able to come in as a head coach and just build it brick by brick, day by day, rep by rep,” Tanner said.

Consistency across town

Watching a coach build a reputable football program is something Burleson is familiar with. It just happened most recently across town at Centennial under Geller–the only head coach the Spartans have had since the football program began in 2010.

The Elks haven’t had the same consistency at head coach. Tanner will be the Elks’ third coach in three years. 

The Spartans’ consistency in their coaching staff–not just with Geller but also defensive coordinator Blake Meyer, who’s been running the defense for all of Centennial’s existence–is something Tanner wants at Burleson. 

What Geller believes has allowed him to coach the Spartans for so long is a combination of the team’s success and his desire to remain a part of the school and community he loves and has become attached to.

“First of all, it’s just the kids and the community and the people that I work for,” Geller said. “I just can’t imagine a better situation that fits me. They’re the best folks that I’ve ever worked for.”

“It’s nice. I’m lucky. I’m blessed,” Geller said of being the Spartans’ head coach. “I thank God for that. When I go to church on Sunday, I thank God for that. I literally get in the kneeler and that’s what I do.”

A key to the winning culture Geller has helped the Spartans establish is their run-it-down-your-throat option-based offense they’ve run since 2014. That won’t be the offense they run in 2024. 

Centennial’s new offense and talented young quarterback

Geller has elected to adopt a more “conventional” offense around his talented sophomore quarterback Jacob Torres. Geller said Torres was one of the main reasons for the offensive change.

“We were going to change if he was that guy,” Geller said. “And he is.” 

Torres had “limited exposure” to Centennial’s option-based offense and “did a fine job” running it on the junior varsity team as a freshman in 2023, Geller said, but “that’s awfully hard to be under center and reading defensive linemen if you’ve never done it before.”

“We had to take a look at things and say, ‘Okay, do you fit the square peg in the round hole, or do you go with your talents,” Geller said.

Geller said Torres is very polished and mature for a high-school sophomore and that he’s devoted to football. He also said he has a very good arm.

“He can throw it now, and like I said his maturity is very polished for a high-school sophomore,” Geller said. “And we felt like the future–having three years with him–you’ve got to expose the talents and not the weaknesses of each player.”

Elks building around junior running back and younger players

While much of the Spartans’ offense will be built around Torres, the Elks have their own young star their offense will be built around–junior running back Nate Jackson.

“Love [Jackson]. We’ll play around him,” Tanner said. “He’s going to be a kid who’s very successful, and we’ll build around him.”

Jackson led the Elks with 985 rushing yards (third in district) and seven touchdowns in 2023 as a sophomore.

Another player Tanner is excited to coach in 2024 is sophomore wide receiver Thomas McGovern. Tanner made it a point to meet with McGovern’s parents to let them know how excited he is about their son, who he described as a tough and unselfish player who knows football.

McGovern isn’t the only sophomore who will get a lot of playing time for the Elks, Tanner said.

“I think we’re a very young team,” Tanner said. “We’re going to play a lot of sophomores on Friday nights.”

There are six sophomores–including McGovern and linebacker Lawson Blanchard, who Tanner said “will definitely be a spark” for the Elks that he’s excited about–on the Elks’ 45-man roster.

The Spartans’ strengths and weaknesses

Across town, Geller believes much of the Spartans’ spark will come from their front seven on defense because it’s the group with the most returning starters. 

“We feel like, [the front seven] could be as good as–golly, I think we’re going to be pretty good there,” Geller said.

Geller believes the Spartans’ biggest challenge will be improving the secondary, which is the main area the team lost depth from the graduated seniors in the Class of 2024. Geller said there’s a number of players competing for jobs in the secondary.

“Hopefully the competition will raise their level of play a little bit, but still it’s kind of an unknown,” Geller said of those competing for jobs in the secondary.

Geller said the gap between the Spartans’ secondary and front seven is “pretty good,” and closing that gap will come down to players having the will to work hard and stack good reps into good days and good games.

“[The defensive backs] do have great attitudes, and it’s not that we don’t have faith in them,” Geller said. “It’s just that there’s an unknown there. They’re untested, and we’ll have to get out there and see how they play.”

On the offensive side of the ball, despite making the big change, Geller feels confident in Torres and the returning players as well as his coaching staff, including new offensive coordinator Eric Stephens.

Geller hired Stephens as “somebody with much better expertise” in the new offense than himself. Geller will turn over play-calling responsibilities to Stephens after calling the Spartans’ plays for the past 10 years.

“I know [Stephens] knows what he’s doing,” Geller said. “You don’t hire someone and get in the way. You hire someone and let them do their job that they’re hired to do.”

District realignment

The Spartans’ new offense and the Elks’ new head coach aren’t the only changes the teams will face in 2024. Both teams joined new districts this season when the districts were realigned after the 2023 season.

Burleson joins District 3-5A in Region I. The district includes the Argyle Eagles, Colleyville Heritage Panthers, Everyman Bulldogs, Grapevine Mustangs, Mansfield Summit Jaguars, Mansfield Timberview Wolves, Seguin Cougars and The Colony Cougars.

Tanner said District 3-5A is “definitely a tough district,” but he’ll “never shy away from that.”

“It’s definitely a privilege to go out there and bump heads with the big boys–the good teams,” Tanner said.

Centennial joins District 7-5A in Region II. The district includes the Cleburne Yellow Jackets, Highland Park Scots, Joshua Owls, Midlothian Panthers, Red Oak Hawks (who beat Centennial in the first round of the 2023 playoffs) and Tyler Lions. 

Geller thinks the players are excited about the district realignment, and he too thinks it’s exciting and rejuvenating, but he wouldn’t say it’s advantageous. He thinks despite getting out of what he thinks was a tough district in 2023’s District 3-5A in Region I, the Spartans still have to get better as a team.

“We’ve always said it’s not about who we play. It’s about us, and that’s not going to change,” Geller said.

What to expect in this season of change

Despite all the changes the Spartans will face this season, Geller’s expectation is “no different than any other year.” 

“I expect us to compete at a high level,” Geller said. “I expect us to make the playoffs, and I expect us to at least do one game better than we did last year in the playoffs. I don’t know if I change that year-to-year too much.”

At Burleson, Tanner’s expectations are a bit more abstract and nuanced as he’s never been one to predict records or scores.

“My goal for me is for my seniors to walk off the field–whether it’s November 4 or the second week of December–for them to walk off that field with their heads held high,” Tanner said.

Burleson will see how high the Elk seniors hold their heads, just as it will see how many playoff games the Spartans and/or Elks win, when the 2024 season is all said and done.

That season, one in which both of the community’s high-school football teams enter new eras, begins with the battle for The Boot Friday at Burleson ISD Stadium.