The Fountain Hills High School football team (2-1) fell for the first time this season in a 51-13 loss to Camp Verde (2-1) Thursday, Aug. 31.

Camp Verde senior Tyson Buckley threw six touchdowns and 320 yards and became the new school record holder for passing yards with 3,424 yards in 12 games.

Fountain Hills senior Gannon Young led all receivers with 132 yards on four receptions, including a 57-yard touchdown reception.

Buckley is tied for sixth in the state with 786 yards in three games at the time of writing and leads the No. 4 ranked team in Division 2A, per MaxPreps. Official rankings from the Arizona Interscholastic Association will be released Tuesday, Sept. 26, then updated weekly.

Buckley had only thrown 11 interceptions in his first 11 games as quarterback, but Fountain Hills picked him off twice. Falcon senior Gabe Haynes grabbed the first interception off a tipped pass on the Cowboys’ second offensive possession, and junior Sam Barnard caught an interception in the endzone.

Both interceptions happened in the first quarter, but despite forcing two turnovers, the Falcons were down 23-0 after one quarter. Within a matter of minutes, the Cowboys returned a 100-yard pick-6, scored a 62-yard passing touchdown and registered a safety after pinning the Falcons back in their own territory.

Barnard’s touchdown-saving interception was the first turn in momentum back in the Falcons’ favor, but the next drive stalled out with penalties. After going down by 30 points, the Falcons went for a big play on their final possession of the half.

Young hauled in three big passes to convert on third down, but none was bigger than his 57-yard touchdown on third and 14 late in the second quarter. The Falcons followed up that touchdown by slowing down Camp Verde’s offense and blocking a field goal attempt right before halftime.

“The challenge at halftime was to attack the next play, and I thought the kids really did a good job of that,” head coach Pete Schermerhorn said. “They really showed a lot of poise and growth in that third quarter and that was one of the key things. Not everything that happens in a football game is going to be positive, and if you let that affect the next play, then it starts to snowball on you like it kind of did in the first half. I thought our kids responded maturely and with some growth in being able to turn the page and get to the next play.”

The Falcons defense forced the Cowboys to punt after a three and out to start the third quarter, and then Young set up another touchdown. Camp Verde was flagged for pass interference but Young still caught a 39-yard pass in traffic. Senior Canon Lipps punched the score in from the one-yard line to make it 30-13.

The Cowboys scored quickly on drives of six, two and four plays in the first half. The Falcons slowed them down and Camp Verde took 13 plays on the first scoring drive after the break. The Falcons couldn’t stop Camp Verde completely, but they made the Cowboys work for every yard gained in the second half.

The Falcons didn’t make many mistakes in the second half, but Barnard threw a second interception that led to a Camp Verde touchdown. The Cowboys scored twice in the fourth quarter to seal their victory.

The Falcons host 4A Marcos de Niza (1-1) on Friday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. After their second consecutive out-of-conference game, the Falcons will start their region schedule when they travel to Payson (2-1) for the Battle of the Beeline game on Friday, Sept. 15.

“I think we need to continue to focus on ourselves, and not worry about who we’re playing but how we’re playing,” Schermerhorn said. “That’s going to be the challenge. Obviously, most football games are won by the team with fewer turnovers and fewer penalties, so we’ll continue to try to clean those things up and continue to try to do what we do and do it better.”