The Fountain Hills High School soccer season is quickly coming to an end. The boys will celebrate senior night tonight, Wednesday, Jan. 25, and they host Highland Prep at 6 p.m.

The Falcons lost 3-0 in their only game last week to Anthem Prep on Friday, Jan. 20. The Falcons fought hard to keep the score low and senior goalkeeper Zacharie Gratton saved more than twice the amount of allowed goals.

Gratton, Nico Cini and Alex Fessenden will all be honored at senior night tonight. Cini missed last Friday’s game, as did several other Falcons. With low numbers, head coach Malcolm Cutting had zero substitutes and started four freshmen.

Freshmen Mason Meyen and Matthew Gonzalez have seen the most play time of the freshmen, and Xander Hewitt has started to carve out room on the starting roster for himself. He was originally the third string goalie on the team, but he’s dedicated his energy to learning other positions and is playing them at a high level.

“That’s the fun part,” Cutting said. “He did know the game very well because he’s a goalie. After the last few games, he’s come out on fire. Then after Friday’s game, I heard someone helping him. It’s beautiful.”

Another freshman, Leander Rosenquist, recently joined the team and was called on to play the whole game last Friday. Juniors Brendan Davies and Garren Keeler and Fessenden helped Gratton sure up the defenses with their efforts. The only other upperclassman in the lineup was junior Josh Ball, who made some offensive moves but was also stuck on the defensive most of the night.

“Xander is doing really good, actually, compared to the beginning of the season,” Davies said. “He’s going after the ball a lot and actually getting in front of it. He’s doing really good and Mason’s really good. I think he played in middle school, but he’s gotten better since the beginning of the season.

“Considering the ball was on our half, like, 85% of the game, I think we did pretty good,” Davies continued. “For the most part, we were stopping them, just a couple of balls they kicked past us and then out sped us. Other than that, I think we did pretty good.”

Sophomore Tyler Griggs played Friday’s game with a non-COVID illness and pushed his limits for the team. Both he and fellow sophomore Griffin Bos are second-year starters and are vital to the Falcons’ future.

The Falcons’ season started in uncertainty, as they were not sure they would have a coach or games to play. Most of the new recruits this year had never played the sport, much less with their new teammates, and it’s taken a while to build chemistry with each other. They’ve held their opponents to three or less goals in the last two games, and they hope to finish this week strong.

“I think we've played a great team game these past couple of games,” Gratton said. “It’s been fun to play with these guys, and they've been leaving their hearts out. The last couple games have been spectacular, and I’m impressed with them.”

The Falcons faced a top-10 team after press time this past Monday, Jan. 23. The Falcons hosted No. 9 Northwest Christian (6-3), but today and Friday will be against similarly ranked teams.

The Falcons (1-8) are ranked No. 40 as of this writing. They host No. 33 Highland Prep (2-6-1) tonight for senior night, and they host No. 37 Scottsdale Christian Academy (1-6) at 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27.

“Communication and passing with a purpose are key,” Cutting said. “We’re going to get to the end of this year, and we have lots of young ones and we need to build on that.”