SAN ANTONIO – For the second year in a row, the Boerne Champion water polo teams have won regional championship titles.
The Charger girls and boys teams both defeated Harlan in last Saturday’s regional championship matches at the Southwest ISD Aquatic Center.
Champion beat the Lady Hawks, 10-2, and the boys won 17-4.
As a result, Champion advances to the UIL state water polo tournament scheduled for this Friday and Saturday at the Davis Natatorium at Blossom in San Antonio.
The Champion boys play League City Clear Creek at 11:30 a.m., while the Lady Chargers play Clute Brazoswood at 1 p.m.
The winners of those matches advance to Saturday’s championship games. The boys finals begin at 10 a.m. and the girls start at noon.
Chargers coach Scott Slay said the boys and girls took different paths to the state tournament. The girls won their first regional title last year and faced the challenge of replacing starters.
“Every year is a little different. We’ve had graduation losses, but kids have stepped in nicely,” he said. “We started three girls that didn’t touch the water at regionals last year, and they came in and did a really nice job.”
This is the fourth consecutive regional title for the Charger boys team. The UIL began water polo in 2022 and Champion has won every title since and Slay said that brings pressure with it.
“There’s a lot of coaches that want to take your crown away,” he said. “With every one of them, you get their best effort.”
Varsity Girls
Saturday’s regional championship match with Harlan was 0-0 through the first half, but the Chargers scored the first three goals of the third quarter and took a 4-2 lead into the fourth period.
Champion’s last point of the third came from goalie Cayden Van Dyne after she left her goalie position with time winding down in the quarter and launched a shot that sailed in from about 20 feet.
“We have a thing at the end of the quarter where I go up and I try to score,” said Van Dyne, who came up with the 250th save of her career at the regional tournament. “I went up and nobody covered me, and I just went for it and got it, luckily I scored.”
Champion’s defense didn’t allow a goal in the fourth quarter, while their offense netted six more goals for the final of 10-2.
Before that, the Lady Chargers defeated Brennan, 11-9, in the regional semis on Friday.
Against Brennan, Bennett Rice tallied 6 goals, Adriana Swanson and Meghan Jackson both came up with 2 assists and Van Dyne had 4 steals and also came up with 9 saves.
Against Harlan, Rice tallied 6 goals and Breanna Hempton added 3 goals. Jackson and Swanson both recorded 2 assists and Van Dyne had 4 steals and 9 saves.
Varsity Boys
For the Champion seniors, it’s their fourth straight trip to state and they’ve either finished second or third in their other three trips, so this is their last chance for a gold medal.
Senior Will Harrison said they want to end their Charger water polo careers as state champs.
“It feels great, you can’t take it for granted. It’s awesome to win like that and have a dominant team like we have,” he said. “Our upper classmen are ready, we’ve been here three times, we just have to finish it this time.”
In Friday’s semis match, the Chargers defeated Taft, 27-15 and took a 19-2 lead into halftime.
Julius Hoxhaj led the team with 8 goals, Harrison added 7 goals and Aaron Mendoza had 5 goals.
Harrison and Jackson Hankins finished with 5 assists apiece and EJ Altermatt tallied 7 steals.
Hankins was in goal and came up with 18 saves, while Knox Armstrong had 1 save.
In Saturday’s finals, the Chargers tallied 4, 3, 6 and 4 goals. They were up 7-2 at halftime and didn’t allow more than two goals in a quarter.
Harrison and Altermatt both netted 7 goals, Mendoza and Baylor Slay recorded 3 assists each and Harrison came up with 5 steals.
Hankins tallied 10 saves from the goalie position.
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