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Who doesn’t love an underdog story? We all watch March Madness in the hopes that a low seed will pull off a litany of improbable wins and shock the sports world with a long run in the tournament. But we don’t even have to wait until March to get a great surprise tournament run, and we don’t have to go far to see it.
Enter the Scottsdale Christian Academy football team. They were last year’s division 2A state champions, so one would never assume that they would be considered a Cinderella story. 2024 was a different matter though; the season started with a 23-6 loss at home against San Tan Charter. This unfortunate outcome only got worse, as Scottsdale Christian went on to drop three out of their first four games, culminating in a 41-6 spanking at the hands of Valley Christian.
Perhaps that loss was the wakeup call that the team needed however. They rebounded for a 56-0 throttling of Coronado and went on to lose only one of their remaining games. And it wasn’t that they squeaked out a few wins; they outscored their opponents 274-40 in those last five games. Clearly a demon was awakened within Scottsdale Christian.
That said, their 6-4 record was barely enough to slip into the playoffs, where they secured the #12 seed, a rather ignominious start to the playoffs for last year’s championships. After winning their first two playoff games, the semifinals brought on an opportunity for validation. They faced off against San Tan Charter, the team that soundly defeated them at home in the season opener.
In an indicator of how massively a season can swing from hopeless to hopeful however, Scottsdale Christian got its revenge, soundly defeating the Roadrunners 34-21 to advance to the state finals. On Saturday they will face off against the Pima Roughriders, the only team to defeat them in their five game string of dominance towards the end of the regular season.
Perhaps high expectations led to a lack of focus. Perhaps life got in the way of proper preparations. A slow start can happen for any number of different reasons, some a result of bad luck and some deficiencies within the team. But such a massive comeback deserves kudos, and whatever the outcome of Saturday’s game, the Scottsdale Christian Academy Eagles and Coach Mike Sheahan deserve their flowers for pushing through adversity, not giving up, and continuing to fight.