It was a big year for the high school athletics program, spawning state champs, deep runs into the post season and more than a few all-section and all-state athletes representing the Fountain Hills High School Falcons.

Following is a look back at the past 12 months in athletics, beginning with the winter 2012-13 season, continuing into spring 2013 and finally coming to a close with the recently concluded fall 2013 season.

Half of the teams that took the field, court, course and mat are included in this week’s edition of The Times with the remainder appearing in the Jan. 1 issue.

Tennis

It was another standout year for the FHHS tennis squad with the Falcons sending nine athletes to the individual state tournament and the boys taking second place overall.

Both the boys and girls tennis teams became well acquainted with victory in 2013 with them putting together strong enough seasons to earn the title of sectional champions.

Both teams went on to the state tournament with the girls exiting in a tough first round and the boys taking second place.

In individual play, the girls doubles team of Haley Braun and Jena Serrano, as well as singles player Jenny Fisher, made it to the quarterfinals.

The boys doubles team of Tim Schlum and Matt Seiwert made it to the third round of state competition with singles player Matt Fisher taking third.

Both the boys and girls doubles state teams were also named the best duos in Division III Section I, an honor voted on by league coaches.

Overall, the girls wrapped the season at 8-3 in sectional play and 13-6 all told. The boys were 12-4 in section play and 19-8 overall.

Baseball

It was a massive year for the Falcon baseball team, going 28-5 over the course of three months to claim the state title, as well as a number of other awards and honors along the way.

The season began at the Falcon Invitational, a locally hosted tournament in late February where the squad from Fountain Hills won their season opener against Holbrook, 9-1.

The Falcons had 10 wins under their belts before suffering their first rare defeat of the season, a narrow 8-6 loss to Notre Dame in mid-March.

The regular season ended with another one of those few losses, this time a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Saguaro. But that game didn’t seem to have any effect on the Falcons as the team headed into the postseason.

The local boys made sure that was their final loss of the year, going undefeated through the state tournament and claiming the crown with a 5-4 win over Empire to become the 2013 state champions.

The Falcons were a force to be reckoned with on the diamond this season, racking up quite a few impressive stats. Andrew Bryniarski led the Falcons in just about every offensive category while the team batting average totaled an impressive .350. Cory Kukkola led on defense, putting in a .942 fielding percentage.

On the mound, Nick Wojtysiak pitched the most innings this season at 60.2, totaling a big 93 strikeouts. Devin Foyle and Andrew Bryniarski shared the top ERA, both going 1.40 in 45 and 55 innings respectively.

With numbers like that, the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association named Andrew Bryniarski the Player of the Year. He was joined by Nick Wojtysiak on the all-state first team while Cameron Russo, Cory Kukkola and Devin Foyle made the second team. Finally, their coach, Mike Briguglio, was named Coach of the Year.

Golf

The Falcon golf team won the vast majority of its matches in 2013 and went on to claim a top-10 finish in the state tournament before all was said and done.

The Falcons started the year off a bit later than normal, not playing their first match until three weeks into the spring semester.

When the Falcons finally hit the course, they came out swinging, taking first in their opening match hosted out of Eagle Mountain.

That was a position the team would become quite familiar with, going on to weave together a 49-17 run throughout the season and taking top honors at most of their matches.

To take part in the state tournament, a team must earn five qualifying scores throughout the entire season. The Falcons pulled off that feat in its first five matches, going on to claim ninth place at state to wrap up the season.

Sand volleyball

The second year of the sand volleyball pilot program wrapped up with the Falcons going 8-2 on the season; 6-1 in regular play and 2-1 in the state tournament to claim second place overall.

Looking back over the season, Coach Brennan O’Connor said that the Lady Falcons had a successful run.

The pairings of Jalin Yoder/Gabby Mei and Sierra Jarriel/Morgan DiFelice only lost matches to the teams from Xavier all year.

“Both of those pairings were very successful and they won the majority of their matches,” O’Connor added.

“Jalin and Gabby ended the season as our top group and they played a good match in the championship against Xavier. They are both only sophomores, so they will be one of the best pairings again next year.”

As for Jarriel and DiFelice, O’Connor said they were one of the better teams in the state, too.

“This is the first year both of those girls played sand volleyball, but they still played very well together and had a good season,” he added.

“They will both be returning next year as well, so they will look to have another successful season next year.”

Football

Sporting a final season record of 5-6 and going 2-3 in section play, the high school football squad made it all the way to the state tournament this season on the strength of some solid passing and a defense that swarmed to the ball.

The Falcons’ season began with two big wins in a row, besting Coronado 42-14 on the road before beating Florence 41-21 in front of the hometown crowd.

The first of several close losses on the season came in game three, a 42-34 defeat at the hands of Estrella Foothills.

The regular season came to a close with the Falcons on the receiving end of a 53-7 defeat at the hands of a tough squad from Blue Ridge.

In the state tournament, the Falcons squared off against Coolidge in the opening round, going on to lose by a narrow 37-34 in overtime.

All told, the Falcons managed 258.5 passing yards per game in 2013 with 44 touchdowns throughout the season. On defense, the local boys averaged 78.7 tackles per game with 26 sacks throughout.

Cross country

The high school cross country team had another big season in 2013, ending an era with head coach Chris Davis (who will be retiring this year) on a high note.

The Falcons’ season began in early September with a massive meet at the Chandler invitational. The Falcons took on hundreds of runners from every division at this 40-team event, competing based on class rather than having a varsity and open run.

Racing in big meets became the norm in 2013, as that trend continued the very next week in mid-September as the Falcons hosted their first event of the season out of Fountain Park.

The local squad welcomed 25 teams with nearly 500 athletes showing up to compete as the boys went on to claim seventh place overall and the girls went on to take sixth.

By that point, the tone was pretty much set for the season. The local squad competed in about a race a week, each time finishing near the front of the standings.

The Falcons returned home for their final meet of the regular season, this time running out of the high school campus. By this time, the girls had improved to a first-place standing with the boys taking fifth overall.

The sectional meet was hosted out of Skunk Creek Landfill this year, which is a much nicer area than the name implies. The girls put on an extra burst of speed this outing, claiming first place at the sectional run as the boys went on to claim sixth.

The Falcons produced six all-section athletes at this event, including Sierra Jarriel, who took first place for the girls, Brooke Yost, Erika Yost, Hope Brecto, Scott Jarriel and Hayden Brecto.

The final meet of the season was the state event, hosted out of Cave Creek Golf Course in early November.

The girls came in 10th overall with the boys taking 13th. The top Falcon for the ladies was Sierra in fourth place overall with her brother, Scott, taking a top spot of 46th for the boys.

Volleyball

Following a 21-2-2 regular season, 5-3 in section, the high school volleyball team’s 2013 season came to a close without a berth in the state tournament.

The girls finished 15th in their division this year and, while that would typically mean a trip to state during any other season, a technicality in this year’s rankings meant that the Falcons’ run through the season came to a close with a 3-1 win over Blue Ridge Oct. 26.

The Falcons began the season with a 3-0 win over Wickenburg on the road, going on to win the majority of their regular games and rank high in several tournaments earlier in the season.

Unfortunately, a weak lower division meant that some finagling needed to be done to the state qualifications this season. Only 14 teams were brought in from the Falcons’ group with the local ladies wrapping things up just one position too low.

Several Falcons managed to pull together some pretty impressive season stats in 2013. Jalin Yoder, for starters, ended the year with 263 kills, averaging 4.5 a set.

Morgan DiFelice had 110 kills this season with 43 aces, putting her in the top 10 in the state for that second category. Yoder had 34 aces with Haley Braun adding 33.

Braun ended the season with 314 digs, averaging 5.5 a set to put her in the running for first or second in the state. Yoder provided 178 this season with DiFelice adding 174.

Gabby Mei managed 410 assists this season, averaging 6.8 per set and also finding her way into the top 10 for the state.