It came down to the very last match of the regular season but the Champion boys soccer team was able to win this year’s district title.
The Chargers were atop the district standings but needed a win Monday night at Seguin to secure this season’s 26-5A championship.
Champion wrapped up the title with a 4-0 victory over the Matadors. The Chargers finish the regular season at 14-1-3 overall. They’ll start the playoffs next weekend.
A win is worth 3 points and a tie is valued at one point in the district and the Chargers finished with 35 points at 11-1-2, while Smithson Valley was breathing down their necks and was 11-3 in district to tally 33 points, which is why Champion had to win Monday’s contest.
The Chargers’ win last week over the Rangers was huge and was basically for the district crown.
It’s Champion’s first district title since 2020 when the season got shut down because of Covid-19, and while the Chargers didn’t get to advance to the playoffs because of the shutdown, they were regular season district champs.
It’s been quite a transformation for Champion after not making the playoffs last year to winning the district title this season.
Chargers coach Clifton Tierney said they went back to the basics.
“Honestly, we went back to what I did when coaching in Bandera. We’re going to concede possession, run a middle block press, and work endlessly on 1v1 match ups and team defending. We focus on counter attack soccer,” he said. “No team plays like this so I think a lot of the teams in district were stressed out by the way we played because they never see it.”
Another thing the Chargers did this year was avoid tournaments. They are allowed to play in three, but didn’t participate in any to avoid injuries and focus on the match ahead.
In Monday’s match, the Chargers were up 2-0 by halftime and tacked on 2 second half goals to close it out.
Alfredo Castellanos and Brogan Dempsey both tallied 2 goals apiece in the match in the match.
Tanner Perkins was in goal for Champion and came up with the shutout.
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