Berean Academy in Sierra Vista celebrates first state championship in football

SIERRA VISTA, ARIZ — The Berean Academy Eagles are state champions.

In just the second year of the football program, the Eagles won the Division 1 championship game in the Canyon Athletic Association against the Phoenix Western SciTech 26-14.

The Eagles finished their first season 2-5 before going undefeated this year on the way to the championship.

“It was more of, we knew what we could do last year, you know, we lost a couple of games, or we lost our games last year," said Coach Jason Hampton, "but we kind of felt that we were always in them, we were one, one or two plays away from winning the game tying the game. So we kind of knew this year was going to be a lot different from the previous.”

Coach Hampton had an idea what the biggest change this year was.

“Our leaders really started to take more of an important, more leadership role, and more important role, way more vocal role. And underclassmen just kind of fell in,” Hampton said.

One of those leaders, Senior and Championship game MVP Jason Powell, put the game away with an 89-yard touchdown run last Saturday.

“Jason's a natural born leader. So bringing him in was obviously a great fit for the team,” said Jason's best friend and teammate Logan Sealy.

Jason is looking to move onto college next fall, but Sealy and the Eagles have more rings on their mind.

“I feel like we still have more to prove, obviously—people were doubting us at the beginning of the year. So I still feel like we have more to prove. I feel like winning state one time isn't enough,” Sealy said.

Spring practices kick off in April, as the Eagles look down the road to defending their state crown.

----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE

• Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
• Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
• Like us on Facebook
• Follow us on Instagram
• Follow us on Twitter