KERRY BARBOZA Sports Editor
SAN ANTONIO – For the second straight year, the Boerne Champion boys water polo season has ended at the state tournament and for the second consecutive year, the Chargers are silver medalists.
Champion finishes its season with a record of 25-4 and while there is satisfaction with winning back-to-back silver medals, Chargers coach Scott Slay said they are hungry for more.
“I could see it in the boys’ faces, they want to win this bad,” said Slay, who is in his first year of leading the program. “This is just the beginning of what is going to become a Boerne water polo dynasty. It’s coming, I can promise you that.”
Lewisville Marcus swam away with the gold medal after they defeated the Chargers, 25-12, in the championship match. Slay gave them a lot of credit.
“That was the most physical team we’ve played this year. They pushed us around a bit, they’re bigger than us and took advantage of their size and we had a hard time matching up with that,” he said. “They’re a senior heavy team and we’re not as senior heavy as them and size sometimes wins but we did our best.”
After falling behind 7-3 by the end of the first quarter in Saturday’s championship match, the Chargers cut it to three in the middle of the second at 9-6, but that’s as close as they came.
The Marauders went on a 6-1 spurt to close the first quarter and held a 15-7 lead at halftime. They outscored the Chargers in the second half, 10-5 (6-2 in the third and 4-3 in the fourth) to wrap up the win.
Joseph McCreary tallied 12 goals in the match for almost half their points and was named tournament state MVP.
“Their center is a big boy and we had a hard time handling him. We did not adjust as well as we needed to for him and that’ll be the last time that happens,” Slay said. “They beat us up and down the pool and we have to work on that.”
Bexon Harrison scored 5 goals, Will Harrison had 4 goals, while Julius Hoxhaj, Roberto Perez-Puente and Owen Altermatt added single goals.
Altermatt recorded 2 assists, while Bexon Harrison, Perez-Puente, Will Harrison, Hoxhaj and Ethan Roecker all tallied 1 assist each. Roecker was in goal and came up with 12 saves.
Seniors this year are Ethan Roecker, Jake Canales, Ian Rutledge, Roberto Perez-Puente and Luciano Rahal.
State semis vs. Pearland Dawson
Before playing in the state finals Saturday afternoon, the Chargers had to get past Pearland Dawson Saturday morning and had to rally.
The Eagles were up 3-1 after one quarter and were leading 7-4 at halftime but that’s when the rally started.
Champion’s defense played great in the second half as goalie Ethan Roecker and the rest of the team didn’t allow a goal in the third quarter.
Offensively, Will Harrison and Bexon Harrison tallied consecutive goals and the Dawson lead was down to a single goal at 7-6 when the fourth quarter rolled around.
In the final period, Will Harrison assisted to Bexon Harrison and then Bexon scored a solo goal at the 5:18 mark and the Chargers had their first lead of the match at 8-7.
The Eagles tied it at 8-8 with 4:04 on the clock but Will Harrison scored again and then Julius Hoxhaj tossed in a crucial goal with just 1:09 remaining in the match to bump the lead to 10-8.
The Hoxhaj goal turned out to be big and was basically the game winner because Pearland Dawson’s Logan Kraft knocked in a goal with 55 seconds left to make it 10-9 in favor of the Chargers.
Champion killed some clock but with a shot clock, that allowed the Eagles one last opportunity. Pearland Dawson brought up their goalie for a numbers advantage but the Chargers defense held.
The Eagles launched a shot but after the buzzer that didn’t count and the score stood at 10-9 and Champion held on for the win.
“I’m proud of the boys for not quitting and continuing to fight,” Slay said. “That was amazing.”
Will Harrison tallied 5 goals, Bexon Harris had 4 goals and Hoxhaj netted the final goal, while Roecker played a great game at goalkeeper and came up with 8 saves.
Jake Canales and Roberto Perez-Puente recorded 4 assists apiece and Will Harrison had 1 assist.
NOTES: Junior Bexon Harrison and sophomore Will Harrison
were both named to this year’s State Championship All-Tournament Team.
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