It’s a year of fresh starts for the Fountain Hills High School football team.

With new head coach Willie Dudley at the helm and a younger team hitting the field, the 2016 season will give the local squad a chance to build a new program.

Dudley is most recently coming off a stint coaching at Arizona Christian University, preceded by positions at Horizon High School, Scottsdale Christian Academy, Marcos de Niza High School and Marana High School.

After heading up the summer school football program, Dudley got to know his Falcons better by hosting a local camp that included plenty of workouts, teambuilding exercises and the like.

The Falcons’ first showdown of the season will be this Friday, Aug. 28, at 7 p.m.

While that game will be on the road against Northwest Christian, the local boys will be ready for their first home game of the season Sept. 4.

That’s when the Falcons will take on Estrella Foothills and, from there on out, the season almost perfectly alternates between away and home games on a weekly basis.

When it comes to coaching, Dudley said his philosophy is a simple one.

“I coach to build character in young men,” Dudley said.

“Sometimes you can do that with a pat on the back, other times you do that by teaching them the things that will make them successful in life. Hopefully they’re able to take those lessons learned and apply them in other areas.

“You’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to be dependable and faithful, you’ve got to be a good teammate and be responsible. That’s what you try to teach them.”

Those lessons go hand in hand with teaching the finer points of football, according to Dudley, mixing life lessons with a better understanding of the game.

“If you can do that, I really believe you can give yourself a chance to be successful,” Dudley added.

“It’s not guaranteed. There are always things out of your control. But if you do certain things, you at least give yourself a chance to succeed.”

When coaching at Scottsdale Christian, Dudley said he saw the Falcons in action two years in a row, giving him an idea of the Fountain Hills program. Moving forward, though, he said there’s plenty of room to build.

“If you look at the lineup, we’re a very young team this year,” Dudley said.

“I think we have one person who scored one touchdown ever in a varsity game. It was a senior-dominated team last year. So we’re doing the things that will give us a chance to be successful and we’ll see how that works out.”

These first few weeks of practice have seen a heavy focus on tackling and sprinting to the ball, Dudley said, which can be difficult to nail down in 110-degree weather.

“It’s hard,” he added.

“It’s mentally and physically challenging, but they’re working at it. They’re good kids. Our offensive line should be our strength.”

No captains were selected during last week’s chat with Coach Dudley, as he said he was waiting to see who rose to the challenge.

“It’s always a transition for a junior to transition to a senior and realize it’s now his team,” Dudley said.

“A lot of players have trouble making that transition to being a leader, especially when last year’s team was so heavily dominated by seniors. Now they’re being called on to lead, and they’re challenged to do that.”

Moving ahead, Dudley said he aims to keep the guys healthy and finish every game strong.

“We’ve got to learn the season and get to know each other,” Dudley continued.

“They’re working their tails off. They’re showing up, working hard and learning new techniques, so they’re doing a good job.”

Looking ahead, Dudley said he’s looking forward to the growth of each player and the team as a whole, something local fans should be able to get behind.

“We want to grow as a team and have everyone become better football players and better young men,” Dudley added.

“This is the time of year when you have dreams of going 10-0 and winning the state championship and nightmares of going 0-10 and not scoring a touchdown, you know?

“So we don’t know what to expect until we line up and see how we go against someone else. Come out and see what happens.”

Help needed

While football coach Wiley Dudley has managed to pull together a full roster of assistant coaches, he said the team is in need of a statistician for the 2015 season.

“We need a stat person for Friday nights,” he said.

“If anyone in the community wants to help out, we’d appreciate it. You’ll be spotting the ball, taking numbers, recording how far everybody runs and things like that.”

For more information or to volunteer for the position, contact wdudley@fhusd.org.