Scottsdale Christian strikes twice early, before football opener delayed by lightning

Top-ranked Scottsdale Christian struck quickly for touchdowns both times it had the ball to start its football season opener against Pima. Then, it headed the locker room for yet another opener stalled by lightning on Thursday, Aug. 21.

Leading Pima 14-0 halfway through the opening quarter, host Scottsdale Christian saw its third straight season opener go into lightning delay. Officials waited it out as long as they could to try to get the game in after Pima made the three-hour bus ride to get to Paradise Valley to play the Eagles.

Two years ago, Scottsdale Christian started its game against Gilbert San Tan Charter, before lightning caused the game to be pushed back a day.

Last year, at Scottsdale Christian, the Eagles didn't even get their Thursday night game against San Tan Charter started. That game also was moved to the next night because of weather.

This was a highly anticipated opener between the top two 2A football teams with SCA unveiling a new large scoreboard.

Scottsdale Christian beat Pima in the last two finals, last year in the final minute with a trick play to convert a two-point conversion to win by a point.

Pima lost its starting quarterback to an injury last week in a scrimmage, and sophomore QB Ryett McBiles never attempted a pass before lightning put the game in delay.

SCA quarterback Sean Helgeson showed how a year of development made a huge difference in his overall games leading the Eagles. He was converted from tight end last year in the Eagles' second straight 2A championship season. That team was able to pound the ball and played great defense to the title.

Helgeson took off on the game's first play for 12 yards, then picked up 10 yards on the ground on the next play.

He found Kyle Olafson over the middle for a 32-yard touchdown with 9:39 to play in the opening quarter. Olafson dragged a couple of defenders into the end zone after making the catch.

Pima was stalled at its 40 on its first series, after the punter had to retrieve an errant snap and tried to run for a first down. He was two yards short of the first-down marker.

It took the Eagles three plays to get into the end zone. After Dom Dickerson ran 17 yards, Helgeson hit wide receiver Isaiah Steffen on a slant for a 22-yard catch-and-run to the 1. Everett Salazar scored from a yard out to make it 14-0 with 6:12 left in the quarter.

Officials stopped the game after the kickoff, sending both teams to their locker rooms and the fans to the gym.

After an extended delay, the teams began heading to the field but were sent back inside as more lightning was in the area.

Pima coach Josh Wilkins said his team intended to stay as long as possible, because of how far they had driven for the game, 156 miles from the southeastern Arizona community to the Phoenix area.

(Check back for updates).

Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. He also covers Grand Canyon University athletics and the Arizona Rattlers. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: For 3rd straight year, SCA's football opener delayed by lightning