A night of healing, unity and community at Marana High School | Michael Lev

Sometimes he was frustrated.

But Sean Roebuck Jr. was here, walking and talking, and that was all that mattered.

Less than three weeks after a horrific car crash that nearly killed him, the Marana High School senior attended the Tigers’ season opener against Salpointe Catholic Thursday night.

Roebuck roamed the Marana sideline. He lamented a lost opportunity in the red zone. When teammate Grady Perry got dinged up, Roebuck asked him: “You good?” When Carter Meyer returned an interception for a touchdown, Roebuck was among the first to high-five him.

With his good arm, of course. Roebuck’s left arm is in a sling. His fractured collarbone, among other injuries, is still healing.

So is the Marana community. In a strange way, Roebuck’s accident might have helped it heal after a rocky run-up to the season.

A few days before the single-car crash, Marana head coach Phillip Steward resigned. About 24 hours later, he rescinded his resignation.

It was a chaotic situation for a program trying to prepare for a football season. But whatever issues led to Steward’s unhappiness suddenly seemed small when the Tigers’ star receiver – the last of five Roebuck siblings to play varsity sports at Marana High – lay in an ICU bed, fighting for his life.

“I know that really brought the community together,” said the patriarch of the family, Sean Roebuck Sr. “All that (other) stuff is little.”

I spoke to Sean Sr. and his wife, Monica, during the first quarter of Thursday’s game. She had been working the booster-club table before guiding me to the sideline, where Sean Sr. was watching the action intently and eldest son Isaiah was taking pictures.

The Roebucks were thankful that their youngest son was OK. They appreciated the support they’ve received from Marana and beyond. They seemed relieved to be doing something normal again.

‘What a day’

In most ways, it felt like a normal high school football game.

The stands were packed. The marching band played. The cheer squad cheered. Giggly girls wore tiger-print face paint.

The afternoon that preceded it was anything but typical.

Marana High lost power a little after 2 p.m. The outage lasted about 3½ hours. It was the third outage since school started in early August. This was the longest of the three.

Marana athletic director Amie Cormell advised Salpointe Catholic to stay put until the power was restored; otherwise, the Lancers’ locker room wouldn’t have air conditioning. Marana’s players, band members and others posted up at Picture Rocks Elementary School about 5 miles down Sanders Road.

With the teams unable to warm up on time, the 7 p.m. kickoff was delayed. Then a weather front blew through.

The wind whipped. Dust swirled. Lightning crackled. The stadium was evacuated.

Kickoff was pushed back to 8:15 – the latest acceptable time on a school night.

“What a day,” Cormell said.

What a month.

Steward’s sudden resignation — and subsequent reversal — sent shockwaves through the Southern Arizona high school football community. Cormell and Steward indicated that the issues that led to his original decision are now behind them.

“We’ve had some ups and downs,” Cormell said before the game. “We’re all on the same page. We’re all aligned.”

“Things are good,” Steward added afterward. “We're moving in the right direction, and I think we're making some positive change around here.

“We got a long road ahead, but it's a good start.”

It wasn’t a good start for Steward’s team. The Tigers lost to the Lancers 28-7. Marana couldn’t take advantage of scoring opportunities. Right after the pick-six, the Tigers surrendered an 85-yard kickoff-return touchdown to Salpointe’s Jake Bondi.

Although he was livid at times during the game and upset about the outcome, Steward conceded that the scoreboard wasn’t the most important thing Thursday night.

“It felt good to get back out here under the lights,” he said. “It felt good for the boys to get away from everything we’ve been going through the last few weeks.”

Rapid recovery

The Roebucks were hosting a going-away party for daughter Malaysia, a flag-football standout who’s attending Arizona Christian University. Monica didn’t know where Sean Jr. was. She called his phone. A woman — a stranger — answered.

“This is not good,” Monica thought.

She then heard the words no parent ever wants to hear: Your son’s been in an accident.

She rushed to the scene, near the intersection of Sanders and Twin Peaks Road. Sean Jr. had lost control of his car, which rolled over three times. He was ejected from the vehicle.

But as Monica pulled up, she felt a sense of hope.

“As soon as I saw the lights,” she said, referring to the emergency vehicles on site, “it felt like God was telling me he’s gonna be OK.”

Sean Jr. suffered multiple major injuries, including a fractured vertebra, a broken collarbone, two broken ribs and a broken jaw. Eventually, though, he would be OK.

Sean Jr. spent three nights in the ICU, three in a regular room. At first, all he could do was squeeze his family members’ hands when they talked to him.

But after all the tubes were removed, Sean Jr. was on the move. His dad showed me a video of Sean Jr. walking down the hospital hallway with a walker. Brothers Isaiah and Dezmen strode alongside him, their hands touching his shoulders.

Sean Sr. and Monica couldn’t believe how much support Sean Jr. was getting. It might have sped up his recovery.

Rival high schools such as Ironwood Ridge, Mountain View, Sabino and Salpointe sent him signed helmets. Steward said “hundreds” of people tried to visit Sean Jr. in the hospital.

Still, it took time for the initial shock to wear off.

“I have never seen those boys like that,” Steward said of his players. “It was very emotional. Seeing some of those guys come out of their box ... they were shedding tears and stuff. It was a dark cloud around us at that time.

“Once we (saw) him start to walk, his parents updating us with videos, it felt good. It felt like we were getting our brother back.”

Steward said Sean Jr.’s fellow seniors banded together and dedicated the season to him.

“My senior class did a really good job of keeping the boys together because, with a tragedy like that, things can go left,” Steward said. “The senior class didn't let it go left. So proud of them.”

If you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought Sean Jr. was close to getting right — nursing a minor injury that would keep him out a few weeks. But his football-playing future remains uncertain.

No one was thinking about that as the ball kicked off under the Thursday-night lights.

“That’s an option he’ll have to consider,” Sean Sr. said. “As parents, we’re just thankful he’s still alive.”