SAN ANTONIO – Boerne Champion water polo coach Alberto Escalante knew that beating Clark three times in one year was going to be difficult, but it was the challenge the Chargers faced if they wanted to get to this year’s state tournament.
Champion and Clark squared off Saturday in the Region IV-6A finals and the third time was indeed the charm for the Chargers as they won the regional title.
The Cougars held a halftime lead, but the Chargers rallied past them in the second half for the 16-13 victory.
“Some say it’s impossible to beat a team three times in a year,” Chargers coach Alberto Escalante said. “They practiced specifically for how to shut us down and they were doing a great job, but we were able to overcome in that second half.”
It was a tale of two halves after Clark was leading at the halftime break, 7-6, and then opened up a 9-7 lead with 3:12 left in the third quarter. Clark had a key ejection in that second half and that loosened things up for the Chargers.
“It’s a game of momentum and they had a crucial ejection, and we were able to capitalize on that and push ahead,” Escalante said.
Champion outscored the Cougars 10-6 in the second half and that was the difference in the game.
Charger Bexon Harrison said he wasn’t too worried about beating the Cougars three times in a year.
“There are advantages on both sides, and we’ve had different line ups every time we played them, so it was different,” he said. “They had gotten used to some of my tactics but when their best defender on the field got rolled, that really pumped us up and got us going.”
Before beating Clark, the Chargers won their regional semifinals match over Harlingen South, 29-6.
Champion improves to 15-0 and faces Richmond Foster (18-9-2) in the semifinals on Saturday, 1:30 p.m. The winner of that match plays the winner of the Clute Brazoswood (26-0-1) vs. Southlake Carroll (20-4-1) match for the state title at 6 p.m.
All the matches will take place the Davis Natatorium at Blossom in the UIL’s first year hosting a water polo state tournament. Because it’s the inaugural season, there is only a 6A classification in 2022.
Comment
Comments