Last Thursday’s season opener in Laredo turned into a tale of two halves for the Champion football team after they held a 30-7 lead at the halftime break but was outscored by Laredo United South in the second half, 20-7.
The bottom line for Chargers head coach Blane Ellis is that the team did enough to win the game, 37-27.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to have a win,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you win by one point or 50 points, a win is a win.
“Can we be better? Obviously, we can, but we did a great job of hanging in there,” Ellis noted.
Champion hosts Eagle Pass Friday at BISD Stadium in its home opener, 7 p.m.
Both the Chargers and Eagles won their season openers last week so one will stay undefeated and the other will suffer its first loss of the year. Eagle Pass crushed cross-town rival Eagle Pass Win last Friday, 49-7.
The 6A Eagles went 9-1 during the regular season last year and then lost in the first round of the playoffs to finish the season at 9-2.
The Eagles defeated the Chargers last year, 35-27, and Ellis said Eagle Pass graduated a lot but brings enough back to be dangerous.
“They’re good, they’re similar to last year, their wide outs are a good group, they’re good route runners and catch the ball well,” he said. “Their quarterback is a good runner and they’re very similar to last year. Defensively, they do a good job of keeping you guessing.”
Ellis said they need to finish stronger and execute better. He noted that one of the key moments of the game was his team going for it on 4th and 1 at the United South 21-yard line and not getting the first down.
“We have to finish and execute in key moments. In that third quarter we didn’t convert that 4th and 1, but if we do, I think we go and score and it changes the dynamic of the game,” he said. “Credit to them for making that stop, but that will be a key for us this week, finishing drives.”
In last week’s game, Cole Riha ran for two touchdowns, one of them a 68-yarder, while Chargers QB Jordan Ballin ran for a score and also tossed TD passes to Campbell Deberry and Sawyer Bolli.
Defensively, the Chargers’ special teams came up with a safety to give them a little breathing room as well and it helped keep it a two-possession game in the second half when the Panthers starting cutting into the lead.
Champion will be the first varsity team to play a game on the new turf at BISD Stadium. They also had that honor last week in Laredo after Bill Johnson Stadium just redid their turf last summer as well.
The Chargers haven’t even had a chance to practice on the new turf, but that doesn’t concern Ellis “It won’t be any different,” he said. “We’re not too worried about it.”
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