Chargers want to build on last week’s victory

Boerne Champion continues the non-district portion of its football schedule with its second home game Friday when the Chargers host Medina Valley.

The Chargers and the Panthers kick off at 7 p.m.

Champion is coming off a 31-17 win over Laredo United South, while Medina Valley fell to Leander Glenn, 21-7, in their season openers.

The Chargers scored on their first drive of the year last Friday and never looked back. Champion coach Blane Ellis has had time to look at the film and said it was a solid allaround performance.

“Our defensive front played well; we had some questions there going into the game, but I was very pleased with that,” he said. “Offensively, we moved the ball well and I’m super excited at our depth in all of our positions.”

At the same time, the coach said there were areas to improve on as well.

“We have to clean up our pass protection stuff,” he said. “We also need to make guys miss in space, in one-on-one situations.”

Julian Navarrete made the start at QB and the sophomore put together a solid game in his first varsity contest. Ellis said they decided to make Navarrete the starting quarterback after the Churchill scrimmage.

“That was the best decision for our team,” Ellis said. “We were very pleased with him; the lights weren’t too bright for him. He got hit pretty good a few times, but he never got rattled, he was able to perform.”

Navarrete completed 23 of 31 passes for 74 percent and 277 yards and rushed for 46 ground yards. He ran for a score and tossed three more to three different receivers.

The highlight of the game was a Hail Mary pass to Brogan Dempsey that seemed to break the back of the Panthers.

Champion scored the next two TDs and built a 31-10 lead before Laredo United South scored a late touchdown.

The Chargers want to move their record to 2-0 and Ellis said one thing that stood out to him about Medina Valley’s game was how hard they played in their loss.

“They’re well coached and they’re good defensively, especially their secondary,” he said. “But we feel good about our game plan for them.”

Medina Valley moved up to 6A this year.