By Mason Byers
Staff Writer
The rematch between Pima and Scottsdale Christian for the 2A championship game in 2024 was nothing short of exciting.
It was a game that came down to the wire, however, the Scottsdale Christian Eagles defended their 2023 championship with a 28-27 win over the Pima Roughriders in 2024. Although, the Eagles had to dip deep to get the win.
The Roughriders started hot as on their first drive they drove down the field efficiently. They capped it off with a 27-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore running back Joe Palmer.
Pima then kept their momentum going as the following drive, senior defensive back, Jaxon Mcbiles snagged a diving interception to give the Roughriders the ball back.
Both teams didn’t do much at the beginning of the second half until Pima once again put points on the board. This time sophomore quarterback, Cedrick Grimes found senior tight end Preston Russell for a 31-yard touchdown to extend their lead to 13.
The scoring drought for the Eagles didn’t last long though as right before halftime they got their first points of the contest. Junior quarterback for Scottsdale Christian, Sean Helgeson, found junior wide receiver Isaiah Steffen for a 28-yard touchdown.
One of the cooler stories about the Eagles team is about Helgeson, who started playing football halfway through last season and started out as a tackle and is now a starting quarterback for a championship team.
“One day after practice coach saw me throwing,” Helgeson said. “Then I got the starting spot and rolled from there.”
The junior quarterback was able to keep leading the Eagles team, as to begin the second half, Scottsdale Christian scored again after they forced a fumble against Pima.
This time it was a rushing touchdown by senior Caleb Randall who maneuvered his way into the end zone for a 30-yard score. The Eagles secured their first lead of the game.
The lead didn’t last for long though as the Roughriders put together a 70-yard, eight-minute drive that ended in Russell getting his second touchdown catch of the game for 13-yards.
The back-and-forth between both teams continued in the fourth quarter.
Early into the fourth quarter, the Eagles found themselves putting together another great drive as senior wide receiver Lawson Lavallee caught a 39-yard pass to help Randall punch it in for the second time, this time from 1-yard out.
Pima made sure to give themselves a chance however as with 2:21 left to play in the game senior runningback, Jeremiah Martinez, rushed for a 1-yard touchdown. They ended up missing the PAT though as the Eagles blocked it, which would come back to haunt them later.
Head coach of the Eagles, Mike Sheahan, knew how important that blocked PAT was for his team.
“We harp on every point is important,” Shehan said. “Blocking that extra point, gave the team a little juice.”
On the next drive you saw that as with two minutes to go in the game, Scottsdale Christian pulled out their play of the year. The Eagles called a double-pass play which saw senior wide receiver, Harrison Gurash, finding Lavallee on a 20-yard touchdown pass to win the game.
The final touchdown of the season was thrown by Gurash and he couldn’t be happier to be a part of this Scottsdale Christian team.
“This team means everything,” Gurash said. “They really trust each other and this coaching staff.”
With a close win over Pima, Scottsdale Christian completed the back-to-back championship season after coming into the 2A bracket as the 12th seed this season. Sheahan thinks all the teams he coaches are special, but this 2024 Eagles team means a lot to him.
“They’re remarkable young men who have zero quit in them,” Sheahan said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
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