The Fountain Hills High School football team fell to No. 8 Blue Ridge (6-1) 48-21 Friday, Sept. 29.

Junior Sam Barnard returned to the quarterback position after playing running back last week due to a slight injury to his throwing arm, and the Falcons put up more points than their last two games combined.

Senior Gannon Young caught six passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns, and his success allowed Barnard to spread the ball around in the air attack. The Falcons converted 5/11 third downs and were successful on both fourth down attempts.

“I felt a lot more comfortable being back there again,” Barnard said. “I don’t mind having the ball in my hand every play, so it was pretty fun to get back there….We definitely did a lot better this past week converting third downs. Still didn’t do a great job, but I think compared to other weeks, we did pretty well.”

Barnard scored his first rushing touchdown of the year and had his longest run on the year, a 25-yard scramble on third and long.

Young had scoring plays of 26 and 22 yards, and his big-play threat forced the defense to give more open space to other receivers. Senior Jayden Harned, who caught his first career interception earlier this year, made his first start on offense. He caught all four of his targets for 26 yards, and he converted two third downs and one fourth down.

Seniors Canon Lipps and Leland Pena shared one sack, and Pena recovered a fumble after a strip sack by Lipps. The defense came close to a couple of crucial stops, but gave up two fourth down conversions in the first quarter that led to points.

“We talk to our kids about finishing a lot and finishing everything we do and that being a big part of the process,” head coach Pete Schermerhorn said. “We’re getting to a point where we could identify, in a game against a really pretty good opponent, a couple specific opportunities on the first two drives where, if we make one more play on a fourth down, you know, it’s a different ball game as far as the scoreboard goes. That continues to be a challenge, but I think we’re getting really close.”

The Falcons fought back from down 20-0 in the first quarter to trail 27-7 at the half. The linemen’s conditioning has been tested all year with them playing both sides of the ball, but they stood tall and paved the way for senior Gabe Haynes to have 60 rushing yards in the second half.

“We need full effort. Anything football related, just give full effort and know, the results will come,” senior center Nate Barnard said. “Obviously it didn’t go as well as we wanted it to, but the effort was definitely there, especially in the second half.”

The No. 30 Falcons (2-5) continue to grow in all aspects and have three more games left this season. Up next, the Falcons travel to No. 29 Show Low (1-5) for a region game Thursday, Oct. 5. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.