The Falcons hung around for a while against a bigger team from a higher conference, but the Fountain Hills High School football team ultimately lost 58-24 to Marcos de Niza Friday, Sept. 8, at home.

Seniors Canon Lipps and Gannon Young both recorded more than 100 yards from scrimmage in the losing effort.

Young led the Falcons with 150 receiving yards, but Lipps recorded the longest gain with a 52-yard screen pass in the first quarter. That play set up Young’s first touchdown catch, and Lipp’s longest run of the night, a 21-yarder, put the Falcons in range for a field goal from senior Jaxson Butcher.

“I thought we did some things on the offensive side of the football that were improvements over a week ago against a for-sure quality opponent,” Falcon coach Pete Schermerhorn said. “We continue to grow on the offensive side, so I was happy with some development there.”

Junior quarterback Sam Barnard threw for more than 200 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Schermerhorn has been pleased with the passing game through four games, and the running game is starting to catch up and complement the air attack.

Marcos de Niza constantly put in fresh players on defense, but the Falcon’s offensive line held strong through the whole night. Seniors Nate Barnard and Leland Pena led the line and sophomores Nathan Melloy and Connor Davies are proving to be strong underclassmen in the trenches. Junior Hudson Barsema got his first start with senior Lucas Phillips out with illness.

Schermerhorn said the Falcons had to find a way to overcome depth issues against a bigger team, and they still found ways to be succesful on the field. The returning players knew this game would be a challenge, but they kept it much tighter than the loss a year ago.

The Falcons lost 42-6 to Marcos de Niza last year, and it was 42-0 at halftime. This year, the Falcons scored in three different quarters and were only down 31-10 at halftime.

“I thought Canon did a really good job at linebacker filling the gaps,” Schermerhorn said. “He was shooting through a lot on Friday night and did a good job against some of their run plays. Similar to the offensive side of the ball, they were just rolling kids in and out. With the heat of the night, depth was certainly an issue, but I thought our kids continued to fight, continued to try to grow.”

The Falcons are preparing for an exciting rivalry game in Payson Friday, Sept. 15. The Falcons and Longhorns are sectional rivals for the second year in a row, and both teams have 2-2 records entering the highly-anticipated matchup.

The Falcons host Gilbert Christian at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, for the homecoming game. Then, the Falcons host Blue Ridge at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29.