At 1-2 in district (3-3 overall) and with four games left on the schedule, the Boerne Champion football team is pretty much in a must-win situation going forward.
Champion may not have to win all four games left, but they probably need to win at least three if they’re going to clinch a playoff spot this year.
It starts with Thursday’s game against MacArthur at Heroes Stadium and Chargers coach Blane Ellis said they can’t afford to lose to the Brahmas.
“We have to win three more to get in, in this district every week is a battle. That’s been our mentality since the start of district,” he said. “When you’re in a district this tough, it’s playoff season starting Week 4.”
The Chargers suffered a few injuries in last Friday’s 27-17 loss to New Braunfels, but Ellis said three turnovers were more costly than the injuries.
“I don’t want to use (losing starters to injuries) as an excuse. We made too many mistakes and we’ve got to do better,” he said. “I thought our defense played well, we didn’t give up the explosive plays like we have in previous weeks, but we have to do a better job offensively taking care of the ball.”
Champion’s Cade Vick helped set up a touchdown with an interception he returned 50 yards to put the offense at the Unicorns’ 6-yard line. The Chargers defense also recovered a muffed punt and picked off a pass on New Braunfels’ opening drive.
Charger QB Julian Navarette left the game with an injury in the first half. It’s the second time that Navarette has been hurt while playing at Boerne ISD Stadium.
After both injuries, Ryder Flugence has taken over. The freshman accounted for both Champion TDs last Friday after he ran for a score and also tossed a TD pass to Brogan Dempsey.
“Ryder did a tremendous job and I’m super proud of him for stepping in,” Ellis said. “He showed a lot of poise and did a lot of good things for us and we’re super proud of him.”
Champion did turn the ball over three times, and the Unicorns converted two of those into 10 points and eventually won the game by 10 points.
Ellis said protecting the ball will be the main focus at practice this week. The coach also noted that a key to their success is running the ball, something they did well last Friday even though they came up short on the scoreboard.
Zachary Garcia rushed for 158 yards on 15 totes as the team finished with 217 ground yards.
“I thought we did some good stuff with that, but we just got into a situation where we had to throw it,” Ellis said.
Mac is winless in district with setbacks to Veterans Memorial (33-0), Wagner (21-7) and Victoria East (43-7).
The Brahmas are 0-6 on the season and have struggled to score this year. The most they’ve tallied in a single game this season is 13 points against Holmes. Other than that, they’ve been held to 7 points in four of their contests and were shutout in the other, but at this point, Ellis said the Chargers can’t look past anybody as they look to keep their playoff chances alive.
“We have to go win,” Ellis said. “We have our backs to the wall.”
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