Chargers stun Raiders, headed to third round

LAREDO — Boerne Champion did something no other football team has been able to do against Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North this year – beat the Raiders.

The Chargers defeated PSJA North last Friday in Laredo, 24-21, and advanced to the third round of the 5A-DI playoffs after handing the Raiders (11-1) their first defeat of the season.

Champion (9-3) faces district foe New Braunfels (10-2) Friday at Alamo Stadium, 7 p.m.

This is Champion’s first Thanksgiving week game in six years, and head coach Blane Ellis said it’s a blessing.

“We’re glad to be back, it’s been a long time, since 2019,” he said. “We’re looking forward to practicing Thanksgiving week.”

Champion had the early lead last Friday after they scored on the first play of the game with a 75-yard bomb from Julian Navarette to Brogan Dempsey, but the play wasn’t without controversy.

Dempsey caught the ball, had it stripped and then picked it up and carried it into the end zone. The Raiders defender thought he had knocked the ball out of Dempsey’s hands for an incompletion, but the officials ruled it as a catch, a fumble and then a recovery by Dempsey before scoring a touchdown for the 7-0 lead.

PSJA North answered on its first possession and put together a 69-yard drive that chewed 6:15 off the clock to tie it 7-7.

Early in the second, Carter Thompson kicked a 32-yard field goal for the Chargers that was set up by a nice punt return from Dempsey, and Champion was up 10-7.

After a Raiders interception, PSJA North capitalized and put together another long drive that drained 6:17 off the clock and capped it with a 3-yard Darrin Garcia TD run for their first lead of the game at 14-10 and that’s where it stayed until halftime.

Once the third quarter started, the Raiders pieced together their most impressive drive of the night. It went 16 plays and burned 9:35 off the clock, almost the whole quarter, before Garcia scored again to give the Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 21-10.

Ellis said the Raiders did a great job holding onto the ball. Their three scoring drives used up 22 minutes of game time combined.

“That’s their M.O.,” Ellis said. “They’re a quality team, but we got two stops in the fourth quarter.”

The offensive fireworks were just getting started for the Chargers, while the defense played shutout ball the rest of the way.

Champion began its comeback late in the second half after Will Burgess caught a 23-yard scoring strike from Navarette, and the lead was down to 21-17 as the game went into the fourth quarter.

The Chargers forced a Raiders punt early in the fourth and appeared to have scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession, but it was negated by a penalty, forcing Champion to punt it back to PSJA-North.

The Raiders took possession at the Chargers’ 45 and drove it down to the Champion 15-yard line where they faced a 4th and 1.

A field goal would have made it 24-17, but instead the Raiders chose to go for it but were stopped. Chargers’ linebacker Alex Sansone stuffed the play for a 3-yard loss and Champion took over with 3:14 left.

“I saw the flow of the play go right, and I knew I had to go get that,” Sansone said. “I made the play, and it was for my brothers, we go out there and play for one another.”

After the Chargers had the ball, Navarette went deep on 2nd and 8 and hit Dempsey for another long scoring pass, this one for 53 yards. Dempsey had two TDs that totaled 128 yards and also had another called back.

“My O-line played a great game tonight, and my quarterback can put it on me. He trusts me in those situations, and it just happened that I got open and he threw me the ball and I scored,” Dempsey said. “With all that offseason work the past two years we’ve really gotten dialed in.”

Thompson’s extra point put the Chargers ahead 24-21 with just over two minutes left in the game, and it was their first lead since the first half.

PSJA North took over with 2:17 left but a sack on second down dropped them back 10 yards. The Raiders fired passes on 3rd and 12 and 4th and 12, and both went incomplete to give Champion the ball back with 1:46 left.

The Raiders burned their last timeout, but it didn’t matter because Champion’s Caleb Farias rushed for nine yards on his first carry and then recorded a first down on the next snap to basically let the Chargers get in victory formation.

about it.”