Submitted by Denair Unified School District
It wasn’t a hard decision, Denair High football coach Ted Howze explained.
His gritty team had just scored a touchdown to pull within 40-39 against Orestimba. There was a minute, 56 seconds left in the game Friday night. The Coyotes’ defense was tired, they were on the road and, most of all, Howze wanted his players to celebrate a victory.
So he went for a two-point conversion. Quarterback Dominyc Silva deftly faked a handoff and then followed a powerful block from Joe Brazil to reach the end zone. Denair had its first lead of the night, 41-40, with less than two minutes to play.
“We were going for a win right there,” Howze admitted. “We knew defensively we were having trouble stopping them. We didn’t want to go into overtime.”
Unfortunately, Denair’s clutch play on offense was undermined by its inability to make one final stop on defense in what turned out to be a disappointing 48-41 Southern League loss to Orestimba.
On its last drive, Orestimba converted a third-and-16 deep in its own territory and, on a fourth-and-6 from the Denair 15 yard line, threw a touchdown pass for what proved to be the winning points.
“It was a great football game, one of the best I’ve ever been part of at any level,” Howze said.
Denair (2-5 overall, 0-4 SL) rallied from a 33-20 deficit to take the lead, using three touchdowns each from Austin Hughes and Alex Valle. Valle’s third score – an 18-yard run – was the one that set up Silva’s two-point conversion that gave the Coyotes their only lead.
“We challenged our kids at halftime,” Howze said. “Offensively we played well, but we were struggling on defense. Our biggest issues are tackling and, because we’ve had so many injuries, that we have kids playing different positions on defense.” Continue reading “Coyotes Lose 48-41 Thriller to Orestimba” »
