Northbrook Raiders: Coach Sciba and Chika

The voice in unmistakable.

It's been booming through the hallways of Northbrook since 2016. Coach Jeff Sciba was a high school star at Dobie, before anchoring the defensive line for the Texas A&M Aggies.

Since then, he's been in the coaching ranks at stops like Nimitz, Spring Woods, Galveston Ball, La Porte and Dekaney. As the assistant head coach for Willie Amendola, the Dekaney Wildcats won state in 2011.

The boisterous Sciba has hung up his whistle because of the pain from ankle fusion.

And that's a shame.

Why? Northbrook hasn't won a game in two seasons.

Let me tell you a story about Chika Ordim. Haven't heard of him? No one has.

Ordim moved from Nigeria in middle school and enrolled in SBISD. He played a little soccer but went out for the football team in the 10th grade. He had never played the game.

"Before playing football, I didn't have any friends," Ordim said. "I kept to myself. I didn't talk to anyone. No one knew me. Football gave me a social life."

Ordim played as a sophomore on the lower levels and loved the weight room. Entering his junior season, Ordim was declared too old to play by the UIL. There was some confusion with his paperwork from Africa and it appeared that he had aged-out. He knew he had not. He was just turning 16-years-old.

So, you have a 5-foot-9, 230-pound defensive tackle, who had never played even JV football being ruled ineligible. Who cares, right?

Wrong.

Coach Sciba fought for Chika all the way to Austin petitioning the UIL along with the SBISD athletic administration ... and won.

Think about that. Who cares about the wins and losses at this point, right?

It gets better. This just writes itself.

So, Chika plays varsity football this season on an 0-10 team. His play earns him District 17-6A's Defensive Newcomer of the Year and Unanimous First-Team honors by the end of the season.

"My first game, I was so nervous and didn't do very good," he said. "I just kept getting better and better during the season. I just worked in the weight room and got stronger and stronger.

"When I won the award I was in shock, but I was really proud of myself. My parents didn't really get it because they don't know the game of football, but they were proud of me too."

So, what about Coach Sciba? "...........," Ordim stops to collect himself. "Sometimes he's tough, but he's really just a nice person.

He helped me. He fought for me to play. He didn't give up. Without him, none of this would have happened.
I wouldn't have had football or have the brothers I've made on this team."

As Sciba gets out of coaching, you think he will remember the wins and losses?

Maybe, but what he should look back on are the countless lives he has affected like that of Chika Ordim.

Northbrook All-District Football Selections

CHIKA ORDIM – Defensive Newcomer of the Year, First-Team, All-District
JUAN MARTINEZ – Second-Team Defensive Back
NOAH COX – Second-Team Returner
JALEN COX – Honorable Mention Running Back
EMILIO LUJANO – Honorable Mention Full Back
ALEJANDRO GUZMAN – Honorable Mention Offensive Line
ELOY GUTIERREZ – Honorable Mention Defensive Line
JASAHEL VAZQUEZ – Honorable Mention Defensive Back
Northbrook All-State Academic Football Selections
CHRISTIAN JENSEN, Second-Team JASON GARAY, Second-Team

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