Sebastian Esquivel scored on a 45-yard fumble recovery, Degan Butler had another touchdown run, and Derek Potter connected on a TD pass to Jesse Ruelas as Denair defeated Mariposa 20-7 Friday night at Jack Lytton Field.

The Coyotes’ third straight victory capped off a successful Homecoming Week, which included student-crafted floats and a parade earlier in the day.

Esquivel’s scoop and score gave Denair a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. It came on a play in which Mariposa’s quarterback fumbled the ball on a running play.

“It went right to Sebastian and he caught it off his shoelaces,” said Denair Coach Anthony Armas. “That was a huge play.”

The Coyotes had opened the scoring earlier in the second period on Potter’s 14-yard pass to Ruelas, who also had 65 yards on the ground as the compliment to Butler. The two backs – along with Potter and the offensive linemen – are the focal point of Denair’s attack.

“f you look at them physically, you would definitely think that Degan is a bruiser and Jesse is someone who would rely more on being quick or elusive,” Armas said. “The truth is Jesse is a very physical running back. He likes contact. Degan is a very patient runner and really lets things develop in front of him. He can also get those extra yards because of his size.”

Butler’s TD – his sixth in two games – came on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter and clinched the win over the Grizzlies (1-6, 0-3). Butler finished the game with 104 yards on the ground despite a defense set up to stop him.

“Mariposa had played Delhi the week before and held them to 10 points,” Armas said. “We knew they were going to commit a lot of players to the box and they would play physically. We also made some mental mistakes in the first half of the game that didn’t help.”

Denair (5-3, 3-1) – which has a bye this week — is all alone in second place behind Stone Ridge Christian in the Southern League. The rest is coming at a good time for the Coyotes, Armas said.

“We have been banged up the last 3-4 weeks,” he said. “When the schedule came out and we saw when the bye would be, we knew this would be a good time to get healthy for hopefully a playoff run. We’ll practice this week, but they will be light practices. We want to stay sharp, but also give our kids some much needed recovery time.”

Denair returns to action on Oct. 25 when it hosts Delhi (5-2, 2-1). The Coyotes wrap up the regular season the following week with a game at Waterford (4-3, 2-1).

JV score: Denair 41, Mariposa 8. The Coyotes are 7-1 this season.