Chargers want to get back to playoffs in Ellis’ first season as head coach

New Champion head football coach Blane Ellis has a lot of goals in his first year leading the program but none bigger than getting the Chargers back into the playoffs.

Last year, Champion missed the postseason for the first time in eight years and Ellis said getting the team back there is a top priority.

“We’ve talked about it briefly, we know about it but we want to focus on the future and make sure that we’re doing things to get back to where we expect to be as a program,” he said.

Part of the reason the Chargers didn’t make the playoffs last year was because of the district they’re in. District 12-5A DI is loaded with several state ranked teams. It was loaded last year and Champion finished sixth with a 2-5 record.

This season, Texas Football magazine has the Chargers finishing sixth again. The top two preseason teams in the district – Smithson Valley and Wagner – come in ranked in the top 25 in the state.

“It is a tough district but we embrace that challenge and that’s something that we’ve really talked to our guys about as well this offseason, the idea that it can be done,” he said. “You know the world’s going to tell you it can’t and they should take it personally because we’re here to tell you that it can be done.”

A look at the team

Ellis takes over for Keith Kaiser who retired at the end of last season. Ellis was Kaiser’s defensive coordinator at Champion since 2013 and applied for the head job when Kaiser retired and slid into the position.

Some of the old formations and alignments will stay the same, but Ellis added that they’ve added a lot of new things.

“Our verbiage is completely different, where we’re going to attack people on the field is completely different and our whole offensive mindset is just going to be completely different. We’ll be in multiple formations and we want to be physical and establish a run,” he said.

“ Defensively, we’re going to be pretty similar to where we’ve been and we’re going to have some new concepts just because of some of the teams that we’ll be seeing within district.”

One thing that Kaiser did early in his tenure at Champion was to implement spring football in May. Ellis said he is going to keep spring drills, mainly because they get a lot out of it.

“ What we do like about it is it gives us extra chances to evaluate players earlier and come up with a plan or make adjustments to plans throughout the summer based on how spring went,” he said.

Because Champion does spring drills, they can’t start fall practice until the second week of August and Ellis is fine with that.

“We feel like we’re fresher later in the season since we don’t have that extra week in the heat,” he said.

Texas Football magazine lists Sawyer Bolli, Evan Kuhl, Gage Goldberg, Jordan Ballin and Cole Riha as players to watch.

Ballin started at QB last season and threw for 2,000 yards and 25 TDs and Ellis said he’s a real leader.

“He’s a tremendous leader, not only on the field but even in the community, our guys believe in him and believe in what he can do,” the coach said.

A look at the schedule Included on Champion’s non-district schedule are games against teams from deep South Texas, Laredo United South and Eagle Pass.

Ellis said those schools play a tough brand of football that helps them get ready for district play.

“ They’re very well coached and they take a lot of pride in that and they want to establish the run, so it’s a good physical match up for us,” he said. “We really want to find out what kind of team we’ll be because they’ve got some big old kids.”

Ellis added that it’s important to get them on road trips early as well.

“If we’re where we expect to be, deep in the playoffs, we’re making a long road trip and we don’t want that to be the first time they do that,” he said.

District opponents in District 12-5A DI include New Braunfels Canyon, Buda Hays, Seguin, Wagner, Smithson Valley, Kyle Lehman and MacArthur.

“ We have to cross every ‘T’ and dot every ‘I’ when we step into the game-planning room and do everything we can to be successful,” Ellis said. “It is a tough district but we embrace that challenge.”