It’s hard to score when you don’t have the ball.
The New Braunfels Unicorns, trailing the Champion Chargers 28-21 at halftime Friday, opened the second half in a ball control offense.
It worked. Like a charm. The Unicorns scored on all four of their second half possessions and held Champion to a lone score en route to a 49-34 win, remaining undefeated at 3-0 in District 13 5A Div. I play.
The Unicorns limited Champion to just five plays in the entire third quarter while scoring two touchdowns to take a 35-28 lead they would never relinquish.
The game resembled a track meet in the first half, each team scoring on its first three possessions. Champion quarterback Julian Navarrete hooked up with receiver Brogan Dempsey for three touchdown passes, a 12-yarder to open the scoring, a 42-yarder to pull ahead 14-7 after a New Braunfels score, and then a 46-yarder with 7 seconds left in the first quarter for a 21-14 lead.
But as often as Champion scored, New Braunfels retaliated. Unicorns quarterback Clayton Namken, who led the Unicorns on the night with two passing and four rushing touchdowns, ran in from 3 yards out to tie the game at 21-21 early in the second quarter.
Champion scored on its fourth drive of the game, a Garland Whitehead 2-yard keeper for a 28-21 lead 7:14 before halftime.
Miraculously, those would be the final points of the half. Champion’s Oliver Christian intercepted a Namken pass to kill the Unicorns next drive before the two teams exchanged punts to end the half with Champion up, 28-21.
Receiving the second half kick, New Braunfels totally abandoned its passing game and pounded the ball down Champion’s throat. A nine-play 75-yard drive was the result, with eight straight runs before Namken hit receiver Lane Duke for a 25-yard TD pass to tie the score at 28.
Champion went three-and-out before the Unicorns resumed their grinding ground game. A seven-play, 53-yard drive ended in a 9-yard Namken TD run and New Braunfels had its first lead, 35-28.
But Champion struck back, with Navarrete hitting Dempsey for a quick TD. But New Braunfels blocked the extra point for a 35-34 lead.
Getting the ball back, New Braunfels went right back to the run and Champion couldn’t stop them. A nine-play drive, featuring eight runs that produced 52 of the drive’s 61 yards, saw Namken score again from 7 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Now down 42-34, Champion drove into Unicorn territory. But a sack, an incomplete pass and a bad snap forced a Charger punt with 8:37 left to play.
Again, the Unicorns ran the ball ... and ran the clock. A 12-play drive consumed nearly 6 minutes of the clock, and included a huge fourthand- four conversion at the Champion 29. Two plays later, Namken scooted into the end zone from 8 yards out — his third straight rushing touchdown of the half — and the Unicorns had put the game out of reach, 49-34 with just 3 :02 remaining to be played.
Champion drops to 0-3 in district play with MacArthur coming to Boerne on Friday. After traveling to Victoria East, the Chargers will close the season playing district powerhouses Pieper and Wagner.
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