SAN ANTONIO — Champion’s 41-14 first-round playoff victory over Southwest on Thursday night at Dragons Stadium was a win four years in the making.
Prior to Thursday, Champion’s last postseason victory came in 2021 when the Chargers hosted Mercedes at Boerne ISD Stadium and drove away with a 36-29 win before losing to Liberty Hill in the next round.
Champion (8-3) plays the winner of Pharr-San Juan Alamo North (10-0) and Mission (4-6) in the second round. Next week’s 5A-DI game will likely be held Friday in Laredo. For complete details, be sure to check The Boerne Star.
Chargers coach Blane Ellis said finally winning a playoff game after four years was sweet.
“It feels really good; it’s something we’ve worked towards for a long time,” he said. “It feels good to be back.”
Much like last week’s game against Pieper, the Chargers had another fast start and scored on their first four possessions and took a 27-0 lead into halftime.
Champion needed less than a minute to find the end zone on its opening drive. Brogan Dempsey had a great kickoff return that set up the Chargers at the Southwest 33.
Three plays later, Julian Navarette hit Dempsey on a 15-yard scoring strike, and it was 7-0 just 52 seconds into the game.
After the Dragons failed to convert a 4th and 5 on their first drive, the Chargers took over at their own 37 and marched 63 yards on just four plays before finding paydirt again.
Navarette tossed his second TD pass of the night, this time to Zach Lopez, and it was 13-0 after the missed kick.
The Chargers forced a punt the second time the Dragons had the ball, and the Champion offense responded by piecing together a 10-play, 67-yard drive that ended with Navarette scoring on a 1-yard keeper for the 20-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Brooks Warrick set up Champion’s next score after the defensive back intercepted a pass at midfield and the Chargers took advantage of the short field.
Navarette went to the air again and found Dempsey for the second time in the half on a short 3-yard pass. Navarette rolled one way but reversed his field and spotted Dempsey in the end zone for the 27-0 lead.
Right before the half, Southwest put together its best drive of the night, but it stalled on a 4th and 6 at the Chargers’ 28-yard line after the Dragons attempted a pass into the end zone.
That was Southwest’s fifth pass of the half, and they only completed one of the five attempts, and one of those was intercepted.
Ellis said the Dragons don’t really throw and won’t change who they are. Their ground-andpound run game worked for them during the regular season as they rolled to an 8-2 record.
Even in the second half when they fell behind 34-0, they kept running the ball.
“That’s their identity; that’s who they are,” Ellis said. “We have a ton of respect for their program, they’re a scrappy team and their kids play extremely hard and they stuck with their identity, we respect that.”
One drive in the third quarter kind of epitomized the game. The Dragons took 5:33 off the clock – almost half the quarter – and only moved the ball 26 yards on nine plays.
SW went back to punt on the 10th play on 4th and 5, but a bad snap went over the punter’s head and was recovered by Brady Giles to give the Chargers the ball at the Dragons 16.
Two plays later, Zach Garcia weaved his way into the end zone on a 3-yard run, and it was 34-0 just 22 seconds later.
Late in the fourth quarter, Southwest got on the board after a 31-yard run from Nehemiah Parson to make it 34-7 with 6:57 left.
Ellis started moving players in and out and quarterback Grant Joyner, who has been moved up from the JV for the playoffs, found tight end Brayden Church on a touchdown pass to round out the Champion scoring.
Southwest had one final touchdown to end its 2025 season after they scored with less than a minute left on a short run to cap the game.
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