Chargers looking to end playoff drought

While Champion football coach Blane Ellis has a lot of goals he wants his team to achieve in 2025, he said making the playoffs would be at the top of the list.

Champion, a playoff team from 2014-2021, has missed the postseason party two of the last three seasons.

The Chargers didn’t make it in 2022 and 2024 but sandwiched in between those two seasons was a playoff appearance in 2023 that resulted in a road loss to College Station, 51-28.

Champion’s last playoff win came in 2021 when they beat Mercedes at Boerne ISD Stadium, 36-29.

Ellis knows that nabbing a playoff spot won’t be easy in 2025, especially in the district they’re in which contains the defending 5A DI state champions Smithson Valley Rangers and the last team to defeat the Rangers before they won state, Pieper.

New Braunfels, Seguin, Wagner, Victoria East and MacArthur round out District 13-5A DI.

The coach said the players know the program hasn't won a playoff game since 2021 and want to end the drought. Texas Football magazine predicts that Boerne Champion will make it in 2025 and finished fourth in the district.

“We talk about it,” Ellis said. “We have some key games that we feel are hinge pin. We put stock in every game but there are two or three that if we can win those and catch a big fish with an upset, it’ll help our chances.”

The Chargers host Smithson Valley on Sept. 19, Champion’s district opener, and Ellis said that game is circled on the calendar.

“You’re always going to circle the district opener,” he said. “That’s a big fish; it’s a huge opponent.”

Players to watch

Texas Magazine lists Julian Navarrete, William Burgess, Brogan Dempsey, Roman Flugence, Walker Affeldt, Alex Sansone and Axton White as players to watch.

Navarrete started at the quarterback spot as a sophomore last year and Ellis said he’s improved a lot from last season and expects him to be even better next year. He threw for 2,670 yards and 28 TDs as a sophomore.

Dempsey recorded 920 receiving yards and 12 TDs and Burgess tallied 552 yards and 6 TDs.

The magazine states that Flugence (64 tackles) and Sansone (30 tackles) will anchor the defense.