It’s rare to go undefeated throughout an entire regular season, even at the high school level. The No. 2 Fountain Hills High School boys basketball team finished its regular season and improved to 25-0 with two wins last week, and the Falcons are the only undefeated team left in Arizona.

Head coach Jeffery Bonner was one of 19 Coach of the Year candidates named by Arizona Republic’s Richard Obert last week, along with two other coaches from conference 3A. Not only is the Falcons’ varsity team undefeated, but the JV team went 18-0, and the freshman team went 13-0.

“It’s amazing,” Bonner said. “I don’t take the full responsibility of doing it all myself. It’s not just me alone. I know that what it takes is more than just the players or just a good coach. It takes a full buy-in, the full community, the full family.”

The Falcons beat No. 13 Northwest Christian 58-52 on Wednesday, Feb. 8, and they survived with a 56-53 win on the road on Thursday, Feb. 9, against No. 18 Bourgade Catholic. The Falcons only had three games decided by less than 10 points this season, and they hadn’t been in a tight game since a 60-57 win over No. 9 Gilbert Christian on Nov. 30.

“When we play to our highest level, I don’t think there’s many teams that can play with us,” Bonner said. “When we play just to win, almost every team in Arizona can play back and forth with us because we’re not doing everything we have to do to be the best.”

The Northwestern Crusaders outshot the Falcons with 17 free throw makes, but the Falcons felt in control despite the close score. Bourgade Catholic nearly came back from down 13 points and they outscored the Falcons 23-18 in the fourth quarter after senior Aiden Logan was ejected.

Bonner said there was a high intensity atmosphere because of the girls’ 57-55 game right before theirs. With it also being the end of the regular season, Bourgade Catholic gave everything they had to try and take down the Falcons.

Logan, who’s third on the team in scoring and first in rebounds and assists, may have to sit out a game or two because of his ejection. He's a big part of the Falcons’ success, but his teammates are ready to step up.

“No concerns, we are a team and it’s a ‘next man up’ mentality now,” junior Keaton Ort said. “We have great players that can fill his role and we just need to continue to play how we have all year, and we are a team to beat.”

The Falcons have a first round bye that will give them additional time to plan for Logan’s absence. This is their third year in a row with a first round bye, and the Falcons like who they could potentially face in a playoff game at home.

As the No. 2 seed, the Falcons will host the winner of No. 15 Payson and No. 18 Bourgade Catholic. Bonner said he has no preference, but he likes that the two teams are both rivals.

The Falcons could potentially right some wrongs from their last game if they played the Golden Eagles for a third time in playoffs. On the other hand, the Falcons always like playing Payson in basketball, and seniors Deisel Giger and Ty Cosman could get revenge from last year’s football game against the Longhorns.

Last year, the Falcons’ second and third highest scoring games came against Payson. The Falcons swept the Longhorns 74-27 and 73-50, and Fountain Hills has won 23 straight games over Payson since 2008, according to MaxPreps game scores.

The Falcons are chasing their second basketball state title since 2017. Ort has been leading the team with 19.6 points per game, and without Logan in the first game, he and others might have more on their plate. The Falcons know other teams give them their best effort, and that’s not going to change in the playoffs.

“Honestly, that’s the weird part. There is no pressure other than the pressure we add to ourselves,” Bonner said. “We want everybody’s best shot. We’re adding pressure to ourselves to give that state championship effort every single practice, every single game from this point on.”

The Falcons host their first game this Saturday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. in Fountain Hills. The team will watch the Bourgade Catholic vs. Payson game on Wednesday, Feb. 15, as part of their scouting report.

The winner will advance to the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The quarterfinals are held at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, and the semi-finals and finals are held in the Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum on Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25.

“It feels pretty great to be the only undefeated team left, just shows how much work we have put in this season and that we aren’t done working yet,” Ort said. “We got our first goal which was to be the region champs, and now it’s a one game at a time mindset until we win the state championship.”