For Desert Christian High’s fledgling football program, patience proves virtuous — and victorious

At 7:15 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, Desert Christian High School received a kickoff and launched a football program.

It was a project that took six years to get off the ground. Plus an extra week. And another 15 minutes.

But hey, who’s counting?

Certainly not Jason McKibben, the rookie coach of the rookie team. About 2½ hours later, he’s beaming while holding the game ball in his right arm. Not only did the Eagles play their first football game, they defeated Desert Heights Prep of Glendale 42-20.

The moment left McKibben nearly speechless.

“I got no words,” he said. “It feels amazing. These kids came together. So much resilience. I’m so proud of these guys.”

McKibben was standing in the middle of a makeshift, 80-yard field behind the Desert Christian K-8 school. The football stadium that’s been built behind the high school still needs some finishing touches, so this park off of Wrightstown Road is the Eagles’ home for now. The hope is that the new field will be ready for Desert Christian’s homecoming game on Oct. 4.

The Eagles’ victory over the Coyotes culminated a hectic week for the fledgling program. McKibben barely could keep track of all the different places his team had practiced.

The Eagles worked out at the elementary school at 8 a.m. Monday before Desert Christian headed to Williams for a school retreat. The team practiced up there, at Lost Canyon, at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Thursday, the day before the game, the Eagles practiced at 4 p.m. at Udall Park because the K-8 field was booked. They conducted their pregame walk-through at the high school.

All of this came on the heels of Desert Christian having to forfeit its first game at Bagdad on Aug. 23. The Eagles are playing eight-man football at the 1A level. They didn’t have enough healthy players to make the trip.

“I hated to do that,” Desert Christian athletic director Joshua Moore said. “But I had to make a call.”

The Eagles and Coyotes were scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. A lightning strike nearby pushed the kickoff back.

But you know what they say: Good things come to those who wait.

Getting started

The new football stadium might not have been quite ready, but the fans sure were. They were lined up three-deep in foldable chairs along the east side of the field, nearly stretching from one goal line to the other. Many wore blue Desert Christian Football shirts. The back of one man’s shirt read, “NO DAYS OFF!” Beneath it was a Bible verse, 1 Corinthians 9:24b: “Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

This park is where the Desert Chrisitan baseball team plays. The south goalpost abuts the infield dirt, right behind shortstop. The scoreboard sits beyond the outfield wall, behind the home fans and practically out of view. It doesn’t have a clock because, well, it’s for baseball. The time will be kept by the back judge and relayed to the side judges and coaches. The third base dugout will serve as Desert Heights Prep’s locker room.

Six portable, temporary light stanchions set the field aglow. “Friday Night Lights” comes in many sizes and forms.

As the players concluded their initial warmups, McKibben headed to the fieldhouse for additional pregame prep. He stopped to give his wife, Jaymee, and newborn son, Beau, a kiss.

The McKibbens had their third son in February. Jason, a former quarterback at Sahuarita High under David Rodriguez, got the head-coaching job in March. He planted a church, Remnant of Tucson, in April.

McKibben, 30, has been an pastor for nearly a decade. He’s been a football coach for less than a year, but he has ample experience leading young people.

“Having never coached before, I’ve got chip on my shoulder,” McKibben said. “I’ve got people looking at me saying, ‘Hey, you don’t know what you’re doing.’ I’m gonna take that. I’m gonna run with it. I’m gonna see what I can do about it.”

McKibben and Moore agreed that the biggest challenge Desert Christian faces is establishing a culture. Football requires commitment and sacrifice.

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Senior defensive end Reed Olsen, who’s been a soccer and baseball player, said he signed up for football because “I wanted to hit somebody at least a few times on my way out of high school.” But that goes both ways. That’s where the life lessons lie.

“You get hit, but you’ve got to get back up again,” McKibben said. “We’re teaching these boys how to be strong men on and off the field. I think they’re picking (it) up.”

‘Little by little’

The leaders at Desert Christian wanted to start football for many reasons, including the way it brings together a community. That was clearly evident on the day of the opener. Moore and others started working to get the field set up at 7 a.m.

“It was completely a community effort,” Moore said. “That’s what Desert does.”

Moore has been at the school for three years. He’s been the Eagles’ AD since November. He said the seeds for launching a football program were first planted in 2018. Desert Christian wanted to make sure it had all the facilities and amenities in place by the time that became a reality.

The school didn’t quite hit its deadline. But that just made opening night a more intimate experience.

“You have to start somewhere,” Moore said. “You don’t come out of this thing without taking licks. We’re gonna go through our growing pains.”

With the sun setting and gnats swirling beneath the lights, Desert Christian’s first football game began. The Eagles went four-and-out on their first possession, and the Coyotes took an 8-0 lead.

The first touchdown in DC history came on a 70-yard run by junior quarterback Cooper Payne, who raced through the Desert Heights Prep defense and held the ball aloft as he crossed the goal line. Payne’s 2-point keeper knotted the score at 8-8.

Desert Christian trailed 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. Payne’s touchdown pass to freshman tight end Rowan Carter tied it up, and Payne’s 2-point pass to junior receiver Tyson Dobbins — from the 18-yard line, after an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for excessive celebration — gave the Eagles their first lead.

Payne was the star of the first half, completing passes, trucking defenders and playing strong safety on defense. Despite allowing a touchdown on the second-half kickoff, Desert Christian held a 30-20 lead in the third quarter went Payne went down in pain. He hurt his left ankle and had to be helped off the field. He wouldn’t be able to return and is considered doubtful for this Friday’s game at Phoenix Maryvale Prep.

Others had to step up, and they did. Carter notched a tackle for loss on a jet sweep. Senior Ethan Craig and sophomore Francisco Ojeda combined for a fourth-down sack. After the Eagles threw an interception, Olsen notched a sack/fumble to get the ball back.

Dobbins’ second touchdown catch made it 36-20 early in the fourth quarter. Desert Heights Prep still had time to make it a game. The Coyotes reached the DC 5-yard line. On second-and-goal, freshman linebacker Brock Payne — Cooper’s younger brother — jumped a route and made an interception.

“Ninth-grader,” McKibben said, smiling and shaking his head. “His brother gets hurt. Was the star player. No. 8, his little baby brother, comes in and gets a pick to seal the game.”

The defense made sure there’d be no miracle comebacks when Olsen recorded his second sack/fumble with less than four minutes to play. This time, Craig scooped up the ball and returned it for a touchdown.

Craig had a 102-degree fever the day before, McKibben said. The Eagles were tired and cramping in the second half. But after taking a victory kneel-down, they were ecstatic.

“Amazing,” an exhausted but exuberant Olsen said. “First win.”

It was a first step — hopefully the first of many. Desert Christian aspires to play 2A, 11-man football someday.

For now, the Eagles are taking it one cherished moment at a time.

“Our theme this year is little by little,” McKibben said. “A lot of teams would hear ‘little by little’ and be scared of that. But we’re not afraid to do the small things. We’re not gonna blow past them. We’re gonna focus on the small things. Because small things equal big things.”