If the Champion boys soccer team is going to make the playoffs this year, the Chargers will need a strong finish down the stretch run of district play.
Champion is currently 3-5-1 in 26-5A and started the second round last week when they played NB Canyon. If the playoffs were to start today, Champion would be on the outside looking in but they have seven matches left and need to make a strong push.
The Chargers were off Tuesday and begin their stretch run Friday by hosting Dripping Springs.
“We are going to have to work hard to get out of district,” Chargers coach Clifton Tierney said. “The next step would be to win a playoff game, hopefully our district prepares us for that.”
A look at the team
Tierney said they’re young and added that they moved players around to better use their talents and both have led to a slow start.
“It is a rebuilding year; we have a lot more younger guys on varsity and it will definitely pay off down the road when the guys get older,” he said. “We have moved a lot of guys out of their natural positions and moved them into attacking positions which has taken a little time to get used to and figure out the position.”
On the roster this year is William Manarpaac, Mario Cervantes, Nico Cordero, Ricky LeBell, JP Martinez, Gabriel Hernandez, Noah Sherman, Will Wallace, Brian Davis, Crew Pulliam, Calvin Perryman, Bentley McCool, Danny Martinez, Jack Weltens, Hayden Landis, Ben Matamoros, Samuel Krupa, Matthew Duran, Camden Vicknair, Ryan Howe and Matthew McGaw.
Tierney said they will try to utilize their strengths down the stretch.
“We are strong in the midfield; we have a good core group in the back,” he said. “But we are still working to get our guys more confident scoring goals.”
A look at the district
Champion’s district is tough and Dripping Springs and Alamo Heights have the top two spots but after that, all the rest of the teams except Seguin are in the hunt. Six of them are bunched together and Lehman has four wins, Canyon has five wins, while Tivy, Champion and Buda Johnson have three wins and Veterans Memorial has two.
Other than with Drip and Heights, any team can beat the other as evidenced by Champion’s two matches with Canyon. They split the two with the Cougars, winning the first one and the New Braunfels school taking the second-round meeting.
Tierney said they’ve been working hard and added that he has his guys in the right spots on the field.
“This year we have been looking to improve the overall quality of our team in regard to individual technical ability but also tactically,” he said. “It took us a while to figure out what formation and system we wanted to run but we finally have found the system that best fits our personnel.”
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