Valley Christian is “almost” fresh off of a semifinal finish in the 3A Conference, the third in five years under head coach Jake Petersen. Almost, because every year is a bit different as is indicated by the Trojans, who return only three starters from last year. That youth was on display during a battle at Sabino which saw the Trojans overcome three drive-killing fumbles to beat the Sabercats 7-0.

The Trojans beat the Sabercats twice last year, an 18-14 victory to start the season off at home and then a 47-18 victory in the opening round of the state playoffs. According to longtime head coach Ryan McBrayer, eight defensive starters returned from last year and that maturity showed in game where the offense was not able to capitalize at several key moments. In the end, the defense gave up 180 yards rushing to junior back D'Andre Dickerson and another 61 to senior quarterback Austin Schuder, with several crucial gains coming on third and forth down plays, but it never broke.

“Our defense played so fantastic all the way through,” McBrayer said. “We just need to put some points on the board. We knew had a really good defense coming back, they were flying around and getting turnovers, a couple of stops in the redzone which was huge.”

Penalties also played a major factor in the outcome with the Sabercat offense stalling in crucial scoring situations, especially late in the fourth quarter where a first down at the Trojan 13 quickly turned into a third and 32 at the 35 and that was followed by an interception. Dickerson earned 62 of his yards in the game-killing drive that ensued but it was a four-yard rush from Schuder on a fourth and one at the 36 that ended the contest.

Valley Christian gave up a fumble at the Sabino 30 with 8:55 left in the first quarter but the Trojans got the ball back three plays later on an interception from senior Noah Lewis. The Sabercat defense forced a punt however and then offense took the ball all the way down to the Trojan 10 to set up a short third down play but a penalty pushed the ball back and a missed field goal ended that threat.

Both teams traded punts but Valley Christian went on the move again only to have another fumble give Sabino the ball back at their own 24 with 3:02 left in the half. A deep pass from junior Bodhi Sanford to senior Anthony Dimas put Sabino in great position again. The team elected to go for it on a fourth and one from the seven but a pass in the endzone was broken up to leave the score tied 0-0 at the half.

Valley Christian drove down to the Sabino seven to start the third quarter but the Sabercat defense forced another fumble to get the ball back ant their own 12 with 5:50 left in the quarter. The Sabercats were forced to punt after two penalties had the team pinned back deep and Schuder used the short field to hit sophomore Titus Higginbotham from 20 yards out to put the Trojans up 7-0 with 11:54 left in the game.

“We weren’t looking for a perfect game,” Petersen told his team after win. “But the way we finished it is exactly how we wanted to finish.”

Sabino will travel to play Gilbert Christian (1-0) next week with the Knights beating ALA - Vistancia 55-0 in their opener and Valley Christian will host Show Low (1-0). The Cougars beat Florence 35-6 Friday night.