When head coach Jody Wilson took over the reins of the Fountain Hills High School Golf team this season, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Now with the season completed, Wilson knows that he has something special on his hand.

The Falcons season ended at the State Tournament in Tucson on May 7-8. Fountain Hills as a team finished in sixth place, while all five of the Falcons competing ranked in the top 100 golfers.

“I was happy with how we did at State, though we had the potential to get into the top 5,” Wilson said. “We had a tough second day at the tournament so that put us back a little, but considering how young the guys are they did a really good this season and my goal was for the five of them to rank in the top 100.”

The core five golfers on the team that competed in meets this season had no seniors, with a majority of them actually being underclassman.

“Only one of our golfers, Ben Danko, had played in a varsity match before this season,” Wilson explained.

The youngest golfer on this team of five was freshman Alex Schafer, who despite his age proved this season to be the Falcons top golfer, ranking 15 at the State Tournament.

However, Fountain Hills’ success this season didn’t come from just one golfer and Wilson believes that was the team’s biggest hurdle to clear.

“I think the biggest challenges we had were at the start of the season and it was just the guys needing to find their confidence that they can go out there and win,” Wilson said. “After that it was learning that to win the whole team needs to do well.”

It was one of Wilson’s favorite memories from the season to watch the five golfers grow closer as team.

“At first I think there was just some of that high school pettiness but once they realize it took all five of them they moved away from that,” Wilson said. “It was great seeing them band together doing things like going out for extra practices to help each other. There is a real comradery now.”

Looking to the future Wilson sees endless potential for Fountain Hills golf saying that the team is eager to continue perfecting their game for an even better season next year.

“The guys are very amped, there is way more enthusiasm now than there was at the beginning of the season,” Wilson said. “They know that to be successful next season or just in golf in general they can’t put their clubs away until then, they have to keep playing which is what they are planning to do.”

Wilson also has some changes to the Falcons’ schedule for the next season that he wants to make.

“We are not going to have a match until spring break, I want to devote the first part of the season to practice,” Wilson said. “We are also going to be playing in more invitationals because I believe that some of these guys have the potential to play in college.”