Champion water polo wins second straight regional title

Champion water polo wins second straight regional title

KERRY BARBOZA Sports Editor

SAN ANYONIO – For the second straight season, the Boerne Champion boys water polo team has claimed the Region IV championship to qualify for this year’s state tournament.

The Chargers defeated Alamo Heights in the semifinals last Saturday at the Southwest ISD Natatorium, 23-15, and then beat Clark in the finals, 20-15, to win back-to-back regional titles.

Champion (25-3) competes at this year’s state tournament Saturday at Davis Natatorium. They’ll play in the semifinals 10:30 a.m., while the finals are set for 4 p.m.

Charger Bexon Harrison said he was glad to be back at state but added that it felt different this year.

“Last year it was our first ever year and every win felt like a huge win and this year we were expected to make it back to state,” he said. “We’re definitely happy with it, it’s that we’ve been here before.”

In a bit of irony, the Chargers faced their rivals Alamo Heights Saturday in the semifinals, yet it was the Mules that let Champion use their pool Friday for one last practice since the pool in Boerne was having heating problems.

Champion coach Scott Slay said that showed sportsmanship.

“Alamo Heights was nice enough to let us come practice (Friday) night and we opened with them Saturday so I can’t say enough about their coach,” Slay said. “They knew they were going to play us the next day, and yet they let us use their pool, classy move.”

After the Chargers kicked the Mules in the semis, they moved on to face district foe Clark in the finals. The Cougars started fast and went up 4-3 by the end of the first quarter.

“We were missing opportunities early on and then we started finishing them,” Slay said. “The defense was much better in the second half than in the first half.”

Harrison agreed and noted it was their defense that made the difference against the Cougars.

“Offensively we were scoring and the goals are going to come but the thing that won us this game was defense,” he said.

Champion outscored Clark in the second quarter, 7-4, to take a 10-8 lead into halftime and never trailed from there.

The Chargers started to pull away in the third after winning the period, 7-2, and held a 17-10 lead when the final stanza started.

Champion was up by 7 goals but Clark made one last push and tallied 2 straight points to cut it to 5 late but that’s as close as they came.

Last year’s Chargers boys team lost in the state finals to earn silver medals and Harrison said they’re going to try and take the next step.

“Hopefully this time we’re going to win it,” he said.