The Fountain Hills High School boys soccer team lost all three of its games last week, and dropped to 1-7, but the third time was the charm. Head coach Malcolm Cutting says their close game with San Tan Foothills on Friday, Jan. 13, was a “breakthrough.”

The Falcons lost at home to BASIS Phoenix 8-0 on Monday, Jan. 9, and then they lost 7-0 at Scottsdale Prep Academy on Wednesday, Jan. 11. To understand why the San Tan game might be a turning point, Cutting pointed out that Wednesday was the first time that the Falcons weren’t mercy ruled since the beginning of the season.

“We started working on a different formation and put people in different spots,” Cutting said. “The first half was 6-0, and the second half was 1-0, which made the game 7-0, but we shut them down.”

The only goal Scottsdale Prep scored in the second half was off a penalty kick, but otherwise the Falcons were locked in defensively. The Falcons carried over that defensive effort and took it to San Tan last Friday.

“That was a breakthrough, and here’s the wild thing, it was only 10 players,” Cutting said. “One of them was injured and he played through his injury.”

Senior Zach Gratton couldn’t punt the ball far downfield, but his injury didn’t hamper him from protecting the goal. The Falcons’ back up goalie, freshman Xander Hewett, had a starting role on the field for the first time all season. He had played sparingly, but the shorthanded circumstances required him to play the whole time.

“Oh my goodness, did he step up to the plate,” Cutting said of Hewett. “He got into it, and that young man didn’t stop the whole game. He's a goalie, or he says he’s a goalie, but I’m thinking I’m going to switch his position now. He ran his tail off and was in that game like I’d never seen.”

The Falcons gelled together more than they had to this point in the season on Friday. The lack of substitutions added pressure, but they communicated with each other and were conditioned enough to keep up with the other team.

The only Falcon with difficulty keeping up with the speed of the game last Friday was senior Nico Cini. Cini had done football kicking training and joined the rest of his team after halftime to give them a full lineup of 11 players.

“I was proud of Nico. He came late, he had a football deal with coach, and he came at halftime,” Cutting said. “He rushed to get there, but he was dead. The poor guy, I felt bad for him. After about 10 minutes of the game, his legs were shot.”

The Falcons ran a specific formation in the second half of the Scottsdale Prep game, and they ran that system again against San Tan. The players were able to get feedback between Wednesday’s and Friday’s games, and the Falcons discussed their play and formations for over an hour in the Falcons nest this past Monday, Jan. 16.

The Falcons have one game this Friday, Jan. 20, at home at 6 p.m. With a week in between games as opposed to only a day, the Falcons will practice their new system and try to remember all the new schemes.

“The formation we ran on Wednesday night, the second half, we said let’s install it in this next game, which was immediate,” Cutting said. “So, they had immediate feedback on the second game that they ran this formation, and towards the end of the Friday game, we made an adjustment with players too, so it’s a work in progress to find and fit players in certain positions. We’re getting closer, and I think when we get there, I think you’re going to see a much better team than the way we started.”

The Falcons season is quickly coming to an end. They have four games left, and only one more week of the regular season after they host Anthem Prep this Friday, Jan. 20. All boys games start at 6 p.m., and the Falcons will host Northwest Christian on Monday, Jan. 23, Highland Prep on Wednesday, Jan. 25, and the last game of the year will be at Scottsdale Christian Academy on Friday, Jan. 27.