Ryan Fisher never imagined this when he helped start the Scottsdale Christian Academy flag football program in 2024.Fisher, who works as a district sales manager for FedEx at his day job, started the program and
since taking over, SCA has gone 33-2, winning the 3A state championship last year. The Eagles own the longest high school flag football win streak in Arizona.Scottsdale Christian extended the streak to 21 games on Tuesday, Oct. 6, routing visiting 4A Cave Creek Cactus Shadows, 48-0.“Our very first year — we were 2A (size school) but our conference was all 4A — I honestly thought if we just go .500 and get in the playoffs, that would be a success,” Fisher said. “And we just kept winning games. I never envisioned us being where we’re at, the win streak.”
This is SCA's third win against a 4A school this year; SCA is a 2A school in all other sports but now plays in the 3A Conference, which was added in 2025 as more Arizona schools started flag programs.“It’s really fun playing up because we see where we’re at competitively with other teams,” said junior quarterback Campbell Reader. “It’s fun to play teams that make it competitive for us and not just win after win. It’s more of a competition each time we play, knowing that we can compete with people bigger than us.”Reader had another huge night to continue her hot start to the season, finishing the game with four touchdown passes. Junior wide receiver Nola Bynum got the scoring started on a trick play, taking a handoff and then throwing it to senior wide receiver Chloe Loop for a 16-yard touchdown to go up 7-0. Reader made it 13-0 near the end of the first quarter with a nine-yard pass to junior wide receiver Jolee Baddeley.After forcing a punt on Cactus Shadows’ next drive, Reader connected with Bynum for a two-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 20-0 early in the second quarter. Then Baddeley, playing defensive back, came up with an interception, giving the ball right back to the Eagles. Reader hit Baddeley for a six-yard touchdown to push the lead to 27-0 with 1:52 left in the second.Following another interception two plays later, this time by senior linebacker Libby Liston, SCA drew up more trickery. Reader started at wide receiver, then took the handoff in motion and threw it to Baddeley for a 36-yard touchdown to put the game away 34-0 just before halftime.
Reader is one of the state's top quarterbacks, while Bynum is among Arizona's best two-way players. Baddeley was the defensive MVP of last year’s state 3A championship game.“It makes it 10 times easier knowing that I have players out there that I can trust,” Reader said. “I’m just going to throw the ball up to them in the end zone and they’re going to catch it. I don’t really have to worry about it where I throw it, I know they’re going to be able to get it. On defense, truly I don’t have to worry about it all. We haven’t let any points scored on us this season.”SCA is outscoring teams 197-0 so far in 2026.Cactus Shadows has one more game this week before it faces tough tests in the Fiesta Bowl Copper State Invitational on Oct. 15 and 17, which will feature schools from all four conferences. SCA — which has an enrollment of 268 students — is the only 3A school in the tournament.“I really want us to represent 3A well, quite honestly,” Fisher said. “We have good teams in 3A – we really do. And we need to represent all of 3A. We want to represent all the smaller schools that maybe don’t get the opportunity. I think we’re gonna be just fine. We have good players here. We can compete.”
For Cactus Shadows (3-3), it’s the first season of flag football. The Cave Creek community came together, raising $10,000 in two weeks during the summer to get the sport added at the school.“It’s going great,” coach Marcus Santelli said. “First, I got to thank the community. They put together a really good group of girls. The community backs them. We got some tough competitors. In our first year, that’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking to compete; we’re looking to bring the game of flag football to Cactus Shadows. We’re excited to keep competing, keep showing what we’re doing.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Scottsdale Christian flag extends streak, defeats Cactus Shadows
