The Falcons suffered their first loss of the season this past week, but head coach Jason Henslin is focusing on the successes the team had in the game.

After their game against Coronado was canceled, the Fountain Hills High School football team traveled to Gilbert to play Safford on Oct. 15. FHHS lost the game 23-13.

This week the Falcons have a home game on Friday, Oct. 23, against Beeline rival Payson. The game starts at 7 p.m.

Looking back on the Safford game, Henslin said that, while the loss hurt, the more he and the team reflected on the game the more positives they found.

“Obviously every loss stings at the beginning,” Henslin said. “But as we took the weekend to talk about it and watch film with the guys, the thing I am really emphasizing is their successes. We didn’t have the success we wanted but there was still a lot of significance to the game, which is that we can play with one of the top-ranked teams in the state.”

Safford is ranked number four in the state while Fountain Hills holds down the 14 spot. So, for the Falcons not to be dominated was a positive.

“We were a couple of our own mistakes away from beating Safford,” Henslin said. “I mean, a few plays that maybe we call differently or execute better, and that game is ours.”

FHHS was also short some players, so that meant some Falcons had to step up to put in some extra effort.

“One of our biggest players was JT Despain,” Henslin said. “He played almost every play at center and then nose tackle on defense. He did an amazing job covering for three missing linemen.”