Dylan Wilhelm is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover San Tan Charter for AZPreps365.com

In 2005, a young Arizona couple opened a small Montessori school for their son, along with about 40 other students in Gilbert. Fifteen years later, the Sippel couple has evolved into a Sippel family and San Tan Charter School teaches over 1,000 students.

Dr. Kristopher and Rita Sippel now have five children, all of whom either currently attend San Tan Charter or have graduated from the school.

While education remains the highest priority, sports are also a matter of importance at San Tan Charter. For the Sippel family specifically, football is a main part of their life. 

Two of the Sippel children, Kristopher Jr. and Kenny Sippel, both have donned the black and green, with Kenny in his sophomore year and Kris Jr., a 2020 graduate from the school.

Kris Jr. even continued playing football beyond the high school level. He recently finished his first season at Webber International University, an NAIA school in Babson Park, Florida.

The San Tan squad knew that 2020 was going to be full of interesting challenges because of the pandemic, and what followed was exactly that.

Teams on the Roadrunners’ original schedule canceled their seasons, forcing a puzzle of a schedule to be put together, including some away games hours away.

On top of that, San Tan brought in a new coaching staff, with former NFL wide receiver Kerry Taylor leading the way. Taylor had success at Arcadia, winning 12 games in two years after the team went winless in the season before his arrival. He is looking to change the culture at San Tan to make the team consistently a contender at the AIA level.

Even with all of those obstacles and tougher competition ahead, the expectations were high for the Roadrunners as they entered their first year in the AIA, coming off of a Canyon Athletic Association State Championship run in the 2019 season.

“We always want to achieve at the highest level. It almost feels like in our high school if we don’t make playoffs, I mean almost if we don’t make state, it’s a failure,” said Sippel, the San Tan founder.

“I was a little hesitant with the new coach coming in because our two old coaches, you know, we created great bonds with them. The coaching change kind of came after nowhere,” said Kenny.

Despite being the defending CAA champions, the Roadrunners still made a coaching change. 

Who fires their championship-winning coach? Sippel elaborated on the decision.

“We also got a new principal last year, sometimes principals bring in their guys,” he said. 

“We have to lead from a higher level on vision and long-term range goal thinking and allow our principals to run their campuses.”

With Kenny and the rest of the team surprised by the decision, Kris Jr. took the initiative to meet with Taylor, despite not being on the team anymore.

“I personally met with him, I talked with him for a little bit,” Kris Jr. said.

“The juniors last year, I have some pretty good bonds with them, and I said this is gonna shake them, so I need to meet this guy and express that to the seniors this year, this is what to expect.”

Kris Jr’s gesture was critical for the seniors, and it helped them adjust to the change, as Sippel pointed out.

“He took the time to meet the new coach, talk with his junior players that were going to be senior leaders, and say this is the right move,” Sippel said of Kris Jr.’s move.

After starting 0-2, the Roadrunners won three straight games before losing the last three, finishing the season 3-5, and 3-2 in their league.

With long-term, big-goal mindsets for both Taylor and the program, Kenny Sippel is still undecided on whether or not he wants to play college ball but is all in on Taylor.

The Sippel boys and their father are representative of the school as a whole, and are dedicated to the education and advancement of Arizona students for years to come.

“It may have been started for Kris (Jr.), but now it’s here for the other 1,000 kid,” said Sippel. “Rita and I have always said San Tan is our life mission, it isn’t just a school, it’s a life mission for us to give back to our community of Gilbert.

“It’s been nice to see as what started as a small little 42 kids in one classroom grow to what we have now, and just the give-back we’ve been able to do for the community," he added.

“And the great news is, in my whole life, I’ve never had to drop my kid off at school and drive away.”