It wasn’t very pretty, but it was a closer game than the score showed. Injuries derailed a must-win game for the Falcons, and for the second year in a row, the Payson Longhorns take home the Battle of the Beeline trophy after defeating the Fountain Hills High School varsity football team 31-6 last Thursday night, Sept. 16.

The Falcons started the game on their home field with the ball but could not get a first down. Payson returned the punt for an early touchdown and never let up.

The Falcons allowed a punt return touchdown last week against Snowflake, too. Head coach Jimmy Curtis said his team can’t afford to allow special team touchdowns anymore and added that the Falcons’ punt defense has had new faces each week of the season.

“I don’t want to blame it on injuries,” Curtis said about the loss to Payson. “But we were very thin, to where we had guys in positions they’ve never played before.”

Younger players were asked to do much more than play special teams. Curtis had to start a freshman cornerback and a sophomore linebacker because the team is small and dealing with an injury bug.

The Falcons started the game with 21 players but lost three more in the first half. The biggest blow of the night was Jake Barnard. His injury status is unclear, but Barnard was seen using crutches and had an ice pack wrapped to his knee after halftime.

Barnard was the Swiss army knife for the Falcons. The senior led the defense as a starting safety, contributed on offense as a starting receiver and was the Falcons’ starting kicker.

Barnard also usually takes the direct snap in wildcat formation. In the second half, Savion Boone scored on a wildcat carry, but a penalty by the Falcons nullified the touchdown and pushed them back. The Falcons failed to convert on fourth down and failed to score. They were 1-of-4 on fourth down conversions against the Longhorns.

Barnard was crucial in the one scoring drive by the Falcons. Late in the first quarter, quarterback Spencer Nelson found Barnard for a 40-yard deep throw. Nelson connected with an open man on the next play, and the Falcons scored on a 30-yard catch and run. It was still a one-possession game in the first quarter at 14-6 after the Falcons’ two-point conversion was unsuccessful.

After Barnard came out of the game, the Falcons were really under pressure. Even Nelson was asked to play safety and cornerback, something the junior hasn’t done for the Falcons since his freshman year.

“Actually, it felt really good,” Nelson said. “I used to really like defense because I used to never play quarterback.”

Nelson said the loss came down to mental mistakes. There were lots of penalties by the young Falcons, and they lost the turnover battle 1-3. Two of the Falcons’ fumbles led to Payson touchdowns, and junior Casey Osborne snatched the lone interception for the Falcons on the Longhorns’ opening drive of the second half.

“Get back to work,” Nelson said. “Honestly, it’s all we can do. Get back to work, run our plays and make no more mistakes.”

The Falcons played more efficiently in the second half. They had successful drives down the field but could not score. Barnard would have given the Falcons the chance to score a field goal, but at least the defense didn’t allow Payson any points either. Senior Hector Leon was chaos on the Payson offensive line, but he exited with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter.

Senior Alex Rieck was out with a hip injury but said that his team was hyping each other up in the locker room at halftime. The few starters that were playing felt reenergized.

In place of Rieck, junior Diesel Giger started both sides at tight end and defensive end for the first time. Curtis said that he was pleased with Giger’s performance.

Curtis and company will have their hands full of challenges this week. They hope to have some familiar faces back on the field when the Falcons open their region schedule against American Leadership Academy – Gilbert North on homecoming night. The Falcons look to regain their early-season success in front of a lively home crowd.