I asked Ryan Winslett, the editor of The Times, if I could write a football recap story from my own point of view. I wanted to do this because I saw a lot of good football and even better players, but unfortunately, some people will only see their 4-6 record.

Football is king where I come from in the South, so I was impressed with the motor the boys on the Falcons football team played with all season. The Falcons played like football was king. No matter the score, I could always rely on four full quarters of effort under the Friday night lights.

The first home football game on Sept. 3 was my first game, since I started on Sept. 1. The Falcons won their opener 35-12 over Arizona Leadership Academy – Ironwood (4-6), but I didn’t know what to expect in my first game. The Falcons won big, 45-13, over San Tan Foothills (1-9). I asked to speak with seniors Calvin Lupien and Savion Boone since they both scored two touchdowns on senior night, and I was surprised they had never been interviewed before.

They both spoke with intelligence about the game and were not at all shy with me. That’s something I found to be true with nearly every football player I spoke with this season, and that’s a huge credit to them. They never backed down from me, and if you ask the coach like I did, he’d tell you they never back down from anything.

“One thing I’d like to see again is the attention to detail and the ability to overcome adversity,” first year head coach Jimmy Curtis said.

The adversity included injuries, coaching changes, COVID protocols and more. The adversity started before the season and continued throughout, but the Falcons continued to fight every week.

Curtis was on the coaching staff last year, but most of his staff wasn’t hired until this May. That didn’t leave Curtis a lot of offseason time to drill in his philosophy with his assistants, and Curtis admitted that the coaches got complacent after the first two weeks and didn’t build off their success.

The Falcons lost the next four games, and only scored in double digits once in that span. Part of that is due to competition. The Falcons lost 46-6 to the defending champs in Snowflake, then lost 31-6 to Payson and lost 42-6 to ALA – Gilbert North at home. Snowflake and Gilbert North are both 9-1 this season and are primed for a good postseason. They are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in 3A playoffs. Payson went 6-4 and will face No. 4 Yuma Catholic (9-1) on the road to start their postseason.

The Falcons made a coaching adjustment on their next road trip to Apache Junction (5-2). Curtis entrusted the offensive play calling to an assistant, and Curtis called the defense. The Falcons lost 56-31, but they were back to playing competitively. Junior quarterback Spencer Nelson registered a season high QB rating of 109.8 in that loss with 186 yards and two touchdowns on 60% completion.

Nelson threw for over 200 yards in three games and finished the season with a 50% completion rate. Nelson had 1,679 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, 81 rush yards and two rushing touchdowns on 16 carries. Nelson also had one interception and 11 tackles on defense.

“He’s a real business-like guy,” Curtis said about Nelson. “He checks in, he knows what he’s supposed to do, and he doesn’t have to talk about it. He’s a learner and he has a football mind.”

Luckily for the Falcons, who are losing 12 seniors, Nelson has another year. Curtis said a huge challenge in finding replacements for those 12 is that many of them were starters, leaders and very talented.

Lupien was the Falcons’ leading rusher with 412 yards, and the leading tackler with 83 total. Lupien also led the team in tackles for loss with 14, and sacks with six. No other player recorded more than one sack, and four of the six players to register a sack will graduate. Fellow senior Alex Rieck had 33 total tackles, five of them for loss, and one sack in seven games. Another senior, JT Despain, was third on the team in tackles with 53, and had one sack.

Curtis knows that replacing all their spots on the defensive line will be a tall task. Curtis said it was hard to replace just one of them when Rieck was out with injury. He says that players will have to step up and coaches are going to have to get creative.

The Falcons went 2-2 in the last month of the season, finishing with a 56-22 loss at No. 3 Valley Christian (9-1). Despite the point gap, there were some encouraging signs in the finale.

Junior Ryan Dyhrkopp is ready to make some noise next year. He had three quarterback hurries at Valley Christian, and he was the Falcons’ second leading tackler all season with 69. Seven of them went for a loss and he caused three fumbles.

Curtis said that Dyhrkopp is one of the team’s best lifters in the weight room, and the Falcons will need everything he can bring to the team. Dyhrkopp also had 412 total yards and four touchdowns on offense.

Although the defensive line will be very different, the Falcons’ secondary will look pretty similar, minus Boone. Junior Casey Osborne led the team with five interceptions and freshman Sam Barnard grabbed his second interception of the varsity season in the last game. Senior Jake Barnard was missed most the season with an early injury, but Sam filled in well for his brother and will be the most experienced sophomore next year.

Boone may be the toughest player to replace because he was so versatile. He led the Falcons in receptions and yards with 54 and 801. No other receiver had more than 16 catches, and only Dyhrkopp and junior Diesel Giger had more than 200 receiving yards.

Boone scored six offensive touchdowns, three defensive touchdowns, caught two interceptions and recovered two fumbles. He was fourth in total tackles on defense, too.

Curtis said he’ll attack next year very differently, and he hopes to get the offseason workouts started on Dec. 1. He wants to add depth to his coaching staff, and he wants increased commitment from both coaches and players. His goal is to develop an atmosphere where kids can have fun and know that they’ll get better. Curtis said it all starts in the offseason, and the more work the team does before spring ball, the better.

“All the discipline and all the adversity can be taught in the offseason,” Curtis said. “That way we can focus on the X’s and O’s during the season. That’s what we’re going to do starting Dec. 1.”