Alex Chenevey is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Cactus Shadows for AZpreps365.com.

In high school, it’s rare to find a father and son on the football team as a head coach and a player. It’s even more rare to find one where the son is the quarterback. But at Cactus Shadows, the Dixon family is looking to keep the momentum going for a school that has been on the upswing for the past few years.

Cactus Shadows hired Chris Dixon as its head football coach last summer. Football has been around Dixon most of his life, as he was a 3-time MVP in the Indoor Football League and was elected into the IFL Hall of Fame in 2015. For his son, Donivan, watching Chris play quarterback made him want to play the same position his dad did.

“I’ve always wanted to play football since I was younger, but watching him play quarterback definitely made me want to play quarterback,” said Donivan Dixon.

While Coach Dixon envisioned his son playing football at some point, he didn’t expect Donivan would be playing the same position he did.

“I didn’t envision him playing quarterback growing up. I envisioned him as a running back, receiver or strong safety; he’s always been pretty strong and pretty fast,” said Coach Dixon. “As he turned 10, we started to tinker with him playing quarterback because we didn’t have another quarterback at the time. When he was 11, he went to quarterback full time, and I got to see the development and we just ran with it.”

With Donivan’s accelerated growth at the position, he was named the starter for the Cactus Shadows varsity as a freshman. If anyone knows about the landscape of high school football, it’s difficult to find a freshman quarterback starting on any varsity team. Donivan knows that there is pressure and an onus put on him to perform week in and week out.

“You have to perform every week because you’re a freshman,” said Donivan. “You can’t really have an off week and you have to prove yourself every day in practice.”

Despite having perceived inexperience, Donivan has proved his doubters wrong so far this season, sporting a 14-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio along with two rushing scores. Donivan has earned the respect of teammates, including senior Jaivon Swecker.

“He’s taken it really well over the past few games, he’s been able to improve and mature as the season has gone along,” said Swecker. “He’s the best fit for our offense. I think overall he’s doing pretty good.”

Despite having concerns with him starting, Coach Dixon has been proud of the way his son has handled himself.

“He’s done a great job handling the pressure and dealing with everything that’s come out of it,” said Coach Dixon. “Did I envision him starting this year? No. If you ask anybody that was in the room when it came down to deciding about him starting, I was the one against it, but he’s done an amazing job stepping into the lights and doing what he’s supposed to do.”

While the connection between the two is unique, they both make sure to leave the football connection on the field.

“We’ve learned how to keep the two separate, at home, we’re very much like dad and son; we try to have other conversations about other things outside of football,” said Coach Dixon. “I meet with him at school during the week to talk about football stuff. When we get home, I almost take it off. We've had a few conversations, of course, but I leave football on the football field and dad at home as much as I can.”

With the unique bond that the two have, Cactus Shadows looks to be in good hands. There is no doubt the future will be exciting, as the duo will continue to be foundational building blocks for a team on the rise.

“I think that the program, as they go along, is going to continue to keep getting better and better as well as us getting better players,” said Swecker. “I think that the two of them together will really improve how we do over the next three years.”