CHINO VALLEY — Quarterback Sean Helgeson threw five touchdown passes, Ben Watkins ran for two more and Scottsdale Christian remained undefeated this season with a 61-6 victory over upstart Chino Valley on Friday night.

It is the 13th straight win for the Eagles (6-0, 3-0 3A Metro 3) dating back to last season, including the Cinderella run in 2024 that saw them claim a 2A state championship as a No. 12 seed, upsetting No. 1 San Tan Charter 34-21 in the semifinals, and beating No. 3 Pima in the title game, 28-27.

Now a year older, and wiser, this Scottsdale Christian group has come out firing on “all cylinders” to begin this fall with a 6-0 record and outscoring their opponents a whopping 312 to 36.

Coach Mike Sheahan said his club focuses on playing “one game at a time” no matter what happened the week before, or what might be coming up the week after.

“It’s the old coach cliché; all you have to do is go 1-0 every week and we must stay engaged the whole time. We wanted to come out and throw the ball a little bit and Sean [Helgeson] did a great job. Offensive line gave him time and wide receivers were getting open and running their routes crisp,” Sheahan said, adding that it will be important to stay true to who they are in the coming weeks.

“That’s kind of hard to do in high school football. You have a bunch of young men playing a game, but if you stay true to who you are, you can do big things I think,” Sheahan said.

And with a good group coming together already in late September, Sheahan’s biggest challenge right now may by to keep the Eagles as humble as possible.

“It’s been my biggest challenge the last two years. This team is pretty good, right. Now, we’re running on all cylinders, you must stay locked in from week to week. You must find those things to fire us up,” Sheahan said.

Helgeson opened the game with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Murphy to make it 7-0 Eagles with 10:04 to play in the first quarter.

After a Cougar fumble, Martin Perez recorded a 2-yard touchdown run and a few minutes later, Helgeson found Dom Dickerson on a 25-yard strike and suddenly, Scottsdale Christian led 20-0 before Chino Valley fans could find their seats.

Helgeson, who had completed 39 of 63 passes for 912 yards and 12 touchdowns (only one interceptions) coming into Friday night’s contest, would throw three more touchdown passes before halftime, the last a 62-yard bomb to Muphy to make it 41-0 with 7:41 left in the second quarter.

The senior quarterback said this week was a lot of preparation.

“It’s been a busy week. We had grade checks, and some guys out with some injuries, but we kept to the same practice schedule, and we knew it was going to be a test in the game,” Helgeson said. “But we prepared the best we could and came out here and executed.”

UP NEXT

Scottsdale Christian turns their attention Cortez (1-5), which lost 48-6 against Camp Verde on Friday night and lost 46-45 to the Cougars in Week 4.

After Cortez (Oct. 3), the Eagles will have two home games against Phoenix Christian (Oct. 11) and Camp Verde (Oct. 17) before wrapping up the regular season with a 2A region crossover game on Oct. 24.

Chino Valley (4-2, 1-1 2A Metro 3), which had won four straight before Friday night’s loss, including a 38-8 win over Kingman Academy in Week 5, tries to regroup for their next opponent Bourgade Catholic on Friday, Oct. 3.

The last time the Cougars won four or more games in a season was the 2018 campaign. Chino Valley last made the playoffs in 2007 in a season that saw them go 7-4 before losing to Round Valley in the first round, 21-7.

Kickoff next week against Bourgade Catholic is set for 7 p.m.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.