The Fountain Hills High School Falcon football team lost its final regular season game of the year last Thursday, Oct. 27, 73-14 against Valley Christian. The Falcons did not end the season on a high note, but they did honor their seniors from football before the game, and seniors from swimming, cross country and cheerleading at halftime.

The Falcons did not shy away from the top-10 ranked Trojans, and they threw an early strike. However, everything after junior Gannon Young’s 50-yard touchdown reception four minutes into the game was tough sledding.

Young’s score made it 7-7, but Valley Christian made it 14-7 after two plays. Senior quarterback Spencer Nelson took the first of two sacks of the night on the next drive, and the Falcons were backed up by their endzone. The punt was blocked, and the Trojans had a short field before making it 21-7.

Nelson threw an interception, but the defense stepped up. Senior Ryan Dyhrkopp got a tackle for loss on first down, and fellow senior Casey Osborne broke up a pass on second and long. The Falcons held Valley Christian to a short gain on third down and held them to just three points with a field goal.

“We coach them to play the next play,” Falcons coach Sean Moran said. “We coach them to move on, and even when the emotions are high, they have a knack for being able to move on to the next play. Very few times I watched them on the field really hang their head and let something last.”

Young beat his man again for a long ball, but he didn’t score. His 60-yard reception set the Falcons up in the red zone, but they failed to convert on fourth and goal. Down 24-7, the Falcons looked to their defense to make another stop.

The Falcons defense forced a fourth down and short situation with Valley Christian still on their side of the field. With seconds left in the first quarter, Valley Christian gained the first down and more on a fake punt pass, and they maintained control.

The Trojans ended the drive with another touchdown, and they would get two more interceptions which led to two more touchdowns in the second quarter. Young caught a 26-yard touchdown with 9:24 left, and he nearly had a hat trick in the first half. Young caught another long ball by the five yard line, but the defender made an incredible play to steal the ball out of Young’s hands before he could score.

“When I looked at their eyes at halftime, I still felt like they believed they could come back and win,” Moran said. “When you can get a team to have a mindset like that, that’s pretty special.”

The second half wasn’t pretty for the Falcons. Valley Christian scored four touchdowns on five possessions, and every Falcon possession ended in a turnover on downs or some other kind of turnover. The Falcons still tried to run their offense, and they learned that some of their plays work on everyone, including the No. 8 team.

The Falcons called on running back juniors Cannon Lips and Gabe Haynes to be defenders in the backfield and help protect Nelson on his long-distance throws. Nelson was also getting plenty of short and intermediate throws off, including a dump off to senior Gavin Furi that went over 30 yards and set up Young’s second touchdown.

“It’s also a big Spencer improvement,” Furi said. “Especially being in the backfield, it is a lot to deal with. His scrambles are good, not even good, they’re crazy. All of our pass plays were designed with an easy outlet. If he’s rolling out, I arrow to that side, or he has a hitch right in front of him. There’s always an easy outlet for him to take, or he runs.”

Furi said there’s always at least one time he goes unguarded in a wheel route per game, and the Falcons took advantage the one time he was free last Thursday. The Falcons have played with a different mentality this year, and senior offensive and defensive lineman Brandon Despain said Nelson’s legs are a big part of that mentality. The Falcons continued to grind out their plays and tried to think positively until the bitter end.

“Our mentality; we are going to play and we’re going to take the ball from them,” senior defensive end Andrew Rosenbauer said. “We’re going to push them back and we’re going to score a touchdown no matter what.”

The Falcons’ four game win streak came to an end last week at Payson, and Moran said he thinks he and his staff underestimated how much of a letdown that loss was. The Falcons were unable to chorale themselves after the short week, and the Falcons lost their last two games. Despite the way the last game went, Moran kept his seniors in all game.

“I think everybody who’s every played football will think about the last time they played, wishing they could play one more game,” Moran said. “For the kids moving forward, it goes to show the sense of urgency they need to have. It goes fast, and you have a limited amount of time to get better, and you have to do it as fast as possible.”

Moran and the Falcons had an accelerated offseason last year since Moran wasn’t hired until June, and the Falcons improved by one win, going from 4-6 last year to 5-5 this season. This year was also the first season in four years to not end with a losing record.

Moran’s goals remain the same. He will encourage all his players to improve their athleticism by playing other sports, and he and his staff will get a jump start to next year by starting offseason training with the football team in January.

The Times will publish a season recap story next week, analyzing and breaking down the 2022 season highlights from all 10 games this year.