Murphy’s Law ruled the Boerne Champion sideline during the first half of Friday night’s game at Victoria East — “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
The Chargers fumbled on two of their first three possessions while its fourth drive ended in an interception, as the Victoria East Titans made three first-half touchdowns stand up enroute to a 28-10 home district win.
The Titans (3-5, 2-3 in Dist. 13-5A Div. I) never trailed, scoring their first possession after recovering a Champion fumble on its opening drive.
The teams exchanged punts then traded turnovers — Champion’s Mark Thompson fumbling after a pass catch, and Victoria running back Breshawn Brown fumbling it right back two plays later.
But Champion failed to right the ship when it had the chance. Victoria intercepted quarterback Julian Navarrete at the Champion 36-yard line, giving Victoria a chance to build its lead with a short field.
Seven plays later it did just that, when East backup quarterback Carlon Helms scored from 3 yards out for a 14-0 lead 8:09 before halftime.
Champion (4-4, 1-4 in district) put together a nice drive inside the 10 but turned the ball over on downs. Victoria quarterback Kason Kole then connected on passes of 22, 28, 21 and finally 9 yards for a touchdown and Champion found itself down 21-0.
The Chargers finally got on the scoreboard with a Nathan Bell 37-yard field goal, trailing 21-3 12 seconds before the break.
The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter. After a Victoria three-andout, Champion marched 61 yards in seven plays on a drive capped by a Navarrete- to-Micah Middleton 3-yard touchdown pass and the Chargers showed signs of life, pulling to within 11, at 21-10.
But Victoria responded with a scoring drive of its own. Kole found wide receiver Judson Brown in the back corner of the end zone on a third-and-goal from the 5, and Victoria re-established its three-score lead, 28-10, late in the third.
Champion’s next two drives ended in a turnover on downs and a lost fumble. Victoria was content to run the clock, eating 3:45 off the clock before punting to the Chargers’ 3-yard line with 5:15 to play. Neither team threatened the rest of the way and Victoria East celebrated its second win in three weeks after opening the season 1-4.
The loss takes the Chargers out of post-season contention. They would have had to win their final three games to have a shot. But now, it must close out the season with a trip to play Wagner before finishing up at home with undefeated Pieper.
Comment
Comments