The Boerne Champion football team had some ups and downs on Friday night when they hosted Laredo United South but the bottom line is that the Chargers found a way to win.
Champion never trailed in the game and even though the Panthers were never far behind, the Chargers went on to post a 27-22 win at Boerne ISD Stadium in the season opener for both.
Champion starts the year at 1-0 and will hit the road this Friday when they travel to Eagle Pass.
“The good thing for both teams is that everything is fixable,” Chargers coach Keith Kaiser said after the game. “That’s the beauty of Week 1, we both get to learn from it but if this had been Week 1, it wouldn’t have been pretty.”
Cole Riha had a strong start for the Chargers and tallied all three of the team’s first-half touchdowns to spot Champion a 20-9 lead at the break.
Riha caught a short pass from Jordan Ballin on Champion’s first possession for a TD. Riha scored again on a short run in the second quarter and right before the half, Riha caught a 57-yard bomb from Ballin that he took to the house.
The Panthers scored all nine of its points in the second quarter with a field goal and a touchdown but a missed extra point.
Once the third quarter started, Laredo United South looked sharp and scored on its first possession of the second half and the lead was down to four points at 20-16.
It stayed that way until late in the third when Ballin scrambled and found Cameron Logan in the back of the end zone for a TD pass to give the Chargers some breathing room at 27-16 after the PAT.
Running back Brandon Benavidez, who had nearly 200 rushing yards, was a workhorse for the Panthers and punched the ball into the end zone early in the fourth and the Champion lead was down to five points at 27-22 after another missed extra point by Laredo United South.
Later in the quarter, Champion had a touchdown called back but it didn’t matter in the end because the Chargers defense didn’t allow another point.
With about a minute left on the clock, Laredo United South faced a 4th and 1 near midfield and was going for it but the Panthers never really got off the play after a bad snap dropped them back for a four-yard loss to give the ball back to the Chargers.
From there, Champion went into victory formation and sealed the win.
Ballin finished with 263 yards on 22 of 35 passing and 3 touchdowns, Riha ran 13 times for 62 yards and a TD, while he caught 2 passes for 60 yards and two more touchdowns. Kannon Brooks led the receivers with 12 catches for 124 yards.
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