Heading into the game last Friday night, Aug. 30, head coach Jason Henslin said the Fountain Hills High School football team was feeling confident about its chances against Odyssey Institute, but it appears that the Falcons still have some start-of-the-season jitters to work out.

Fountain Hills hosted its first home game of the season against Odyssey, with the Falcons going on to lose by a final score of 34-14.

FHHS has a bye this week, setting their next game to Friday, Sept. 13, away against Payson. The battle between the Falcons and the Longhorns will start at 7 p.m.

Henslin and his coaching staff believed going into the game that Odyssey would be a good opponent for the Falcons and that FHHS had the potential to make some big plays. That might have been the case, but the Falcons dropped more than a few opportunities that night.

“We came into the game feeling like our offense and defense both matched up well against the Minotaurs and we had the feeling like we were going to be able to put up a lot of points,” Henslin said. “Unfortunately, we did not have a crisp game. Our quarterback, Shane Davenport, started out missing the mark a couple of times but then settled in only to have our receivers drop the ball a few key times.”

Despite stumbles there were a few bright spots in the game for the Falcons, with those factors of the field forcing several FHHS players to rise to the occasion.

“We had a valiant effort from a few of our lineman who were forced into playing nearly the entire game,” Henslin said. “Tyler Cardello and Hector Leon both put in tremendous efforts, considering they usually only start on defense. Jake Barnard also provided a spark throughout the game, intercepting a pass and making several plays on special teams. Boden Davidson and Caden Poole both had solid games on offense for us as well.”

Henslin said he and his staff accept that they share some of the blame for the misfires but are ready to get the Falcons into shape.

“As coaches we thought we had the team better prepared and we will make sure we use our upcoming bye week to hone in on the fundamentals so this type of game doesn’t happen again,” Henslin said.