The playoff chances for the Boerne Champion football team aren’t looking too promising after a third straight loss in district play, but Chargers coach Keith Kaiser said they can’t give up at this point.
“You challenge them because mathematically it’s not over, but you have to beat Smithson Valley and Wagner and they have to lose more games,” he said.
Champion hosts Wagner on Friday at Boerne ISD Stadium, 7 p.m., and Kaiser said his players know it’s an uphill climb at this point.
“We’re honest with our kids, what it looks like and where we’re at,” he said. “We have a young group, and you have to be careful and not focus it towards that and say the heck with the seniors. For those seniors, we ask them, ‘what kind of footprint do you want to leave?’” Champion is coming off a 42-21 loss at Seguin last week that dropped them to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in 12-5A DI.
Wagner is 2-1 in district with four tough games remaining. The Thunderbirds are 3-3 overall but Kaiser points out they are still very good, and their losses came to Liberty Hill, Dripping Springs and Smithson Valley.
“Their three losses were to top 10 teams in the state,” Kaiser noted.
Champion has competed well all season, but the games have gotten away from them, especially in the second half, and Kaiser said that was the case last Friday against the Matadors.
“It’s the same problem that we’ve had all year – the second half. They’ve been good games up to a point,” he said. “We tied it up at Seguin and they decided to run it straight at us and we just couldn’t sustain it, they were getting 5 or 6 yards a carry.”
The Chargers entered the year having graduated 19 starters from last year’s team and Kaiser said this year’s group is gaining experience, but it’s not coming as fast as everybody had hoped.
“It’s a group that’s young but can’t draw on anything. When you have experience it makes it easier,” he said. “They’re actually a good group, they’re just in a tough district. Not that it’s any consolation right now but all these teams we’re facing we’re built for this year. Next year will look a little different.”
Kaiser said he knows teams aren’t going to take it easy on them just because they’re struggling.
“There isn’t anybody feeling sorry for us because we’ve been on the other end for so long,” the coach said. “I’ve been in this situation before and if you do this long enough, you’re going to be on both sides.”
Smithson Valley and Seguin are both 3-0 in district, NB Canyon, Buda Hays and Wagner are 2-1, while Champion, Lehman and MacArthur are all looking for their first district wins this year heading into Friday.
For what it’s worth, Champion does have two wins this year and both are at BISD Stadium, where they’ll play Wagner on Friday.
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