The Falcons played in their third homecoming game in a row this past Friday down in Tucson but, unfortunately, they were unable to pull out the win this time around.

Fountain Hills High School football played against Pusch Ridge Christian Academy on Sept. 27 and lost 21-14.

The Falcons will be on the road again this week, this time traveling to Gilbert to play against American Leadership Academy. The Oct. 4 game will start at 7:15 p.m.

Fountain Hills’ offense got off to a rough start, fumbling on the opening play and struggled from there to get things going while Pusch Ridge scored twice.

“We started with the ball on offense but fumbled it away on our first play, which led to a Pusch Ridge touchdown,” said head coach Jason Henslin. “Pusch Ridge added another touchdown in the early second quarter, but a 72 yard touchdown strike from Shane Davenport to Boden Davidson sent us into halftime down 14-7.”

Coming back from halftime the Falcons were able to hold Pusch Ridge until another FHHS turnover resulted in a Pusch Ridge touchdown.

Entering the fourth quarter the Falcons were down on the scoreboard by two touchdowns.

“We marched down the field in the fourth and scored on another Davenport touchdown pass,” Henslin said. “This time he had to spring to his left to complete the side-armed, seven-yard touchdown pass. The score was 21-14 with seven minutes left.”

The FHHS defense held Pusch Ridge and the Falcons got a chance to tie the game, but they once again fumbled and turned over the ball.

FHHS got one more shot to tie the game when the Falcons regained control of the ball with one minute left in play.

Davenport was able to make a couple of quick passes to Davidson that put them within scoring range.

“The final play was a Davenport heave to the end zone as time expired,” Henslin said. “I thought for sure Jake Barnard had the ball on that last play and we were going to overtime but, unfortunately, the Pusch Ridge defender got it and the game ended.”

Despite the game not ending the way he hoped it would, Henslin said he couldn’t have been prouder of his team.

“The thing I love about this team is that they never give up and keep fighting,” Henslin said.

A couple of Falcons had particularly outstanding nights on the field.

Davidson received the ball for 179 yards and was six yards short of beating Todd Hadley’s 2002 record.

On defense, Hafeez Momoh, the second lead tackler in the state, had 17 tackles and both Ahmed Momoh and Porter Sweet had 10 tackles.