A tough start to the high school football season for the Foothills Composite Falcons at home Friday night.

The Falcons fell in a tight affair with the LCI Rams out of Lethbridge 21-17.

Head Coach Darren Olson says his team had plenty of opportunities to win but just didn't execute on big plays.

"A lot of times the game changes on little things and we were in position on two big plays that they made we had our guys there and we just missed played it and that was the difference," he says.

Despite the result, it is week one for the defending Tier II Provincial champs and Olson says he saw plenty of bright spots in the loss.

"We played tough defensively and that's going to be a strength of ours for this year is the defence and we started a couple young guys on offense, we're happy, even though you're never happy with a loss but we were happy with the way the game went."

When the Falcons get back to practice after the long weekend, Olson says the more reps and tactical preparation will be key in making his young squad better.

"We got to practice with a little bit more intensity and we got to apply what work on in practice into game situations. We we've probably got eight or ten guys that have never started high school games before so that makes a big difference."

The Falcons will be back in action September 10 when they travel to Cochrane to face the Cobras.