Champion is entering the stretch run of its football season and will likely have to win two of its three remaining games left on the schedule.
Two of their three are at Boerne ISD Stadium, starting with Friday’s contest against Victoria East for its annual homecoming game. After that, the Chargers host Wagner next Friday.
Charger coach Blane Ellis said if they take care of the next two, it should get them into the playoffs.
“When you’re in a district as evenly matched as ours, playoff football starts in Week 4,” he said. “It’s a challenge and we embrace the challenge. The next two are very important two us.”
The only problem is that Champion is winless at their home stadium. They are 4-3 overall and all four wins have come on the road. They have victories at Laredo United South, Medina Valley, Seguin and last week beat MacArthur in San Antonio.
Chargers coach Blane Ellis said the teams they’ve played at home had something to do with it after match ups against defending state champ Smithson Valley and previously undefeated New Braunfels. They also fell to Laredo Alexander at BISD Stadium.
“A lot of it has to do with our opponents,” Ellis said. “We knew our home schedule was looking like it was going to be tough, we’ve played quality opponents.”
Ellis said they haven’t talked about it much because the players are aware of the situation.
“They know,” he said. “No sense in brow beating them.”
Victoria East is 1-6 overall and 1-3 in district and their only win came against MacArthur at home. The Titans played crosstown rival Victoria West at home and almost won that one before losing a close one, 32-29.
Ellis said Victoria East’s record doesn’t matter because they can’t afford to look past anybody at this point.
“They’re a scrappy team but haven’t had a ton of success this year. They’re the opposite of us; they’re struggling on the road,” he said. “They have some returners on defense that are pretty good and on offense, they use a lot of formations and try to establish the run.”
Another piece of bad news on the homefront is that Chargers QB Julian Navarette left the game in the first half in two of their home games and didn’t return that night. Ellis said they hope to get him back soon, along with receiver William Burgess.
“It’s been a frustrating year with injuries,” he said. “We’re dinged up a little bit.”
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