Submitted by Denair High School:

Dylan De Silva’s ankle is just fine. Denair’s senior fullback – who had been limited for three weeks while nursing the injury – reminded everyone Friday night that he’s the main man in the Coyotes’ ground-pounding offense. De Silva ran for 248 yards and two touchdowns as Denair outlasted Southern League rival Le Grand 21-14 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII semifinals at Jack Lytton Stadium.

The victory sets up a rematch for the Section championship against another Southern League opponent, Mariposa. The Grizzlies earned their spot in the title game with a dominating 52-27 win over Vacaville Christian in the other semifinal.

Denair (9-2) narrowly defeated Mariposa 14-13 at home on Oct. 25, stopping a two-point conversion attempt late in the game that would have given the Grizzlies the lead and then watching as Mariposa missed a short field goal with 40 seconds to play.

“They’re a good team,” said Denair Coach Anthony Armas of Mariposa (7-4). “They’ve got a good quarterback. They like to spread out their offense and they’re physical on defense.”

It was in the first game against Mariposa that De Silva was hurt. He rolled his ankle early in the third quarter and went to the sidelines. He didn’t play the next week in the regular-season finale against Waterford, then had more chance to rest as top-seeded Denair earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

Friday, it was clear from the start that De Silva was fully recovered.

“He was making all the cuts he usually makes,” Armas said. “He was running well. He didn’t have any long runs, but he had seven or eight plays were he got pretty good chunks of yardage.”

Jorge Yanez was the other Denair running back who took advantage of the gaps being created by the Coyotes’ line, scoring Denair’s first touchdown on a 4-yard run in the opening period.

“Our offensive line was really getting after people,” Armas said.

Submitted by Denair Unified School District:

The Denair Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to invest nearly $2.5 million Thursday night to upgrade lighting, air conditioning and heating, reduce water use and leverage technology to make everything run more efficiently.

Under a 15-year financing plan outlined to the board, savings from utility bills that today total almost $400,000 a year will pay for the project, which will touch all four campuses in the district.

Conservative estimates indicate that the systems will reduce Denair’s utility bills by 30% a year – roughly $120,000 – offsetting the cost of the project, which will be led by Climatec. Work is expected to begin this month and be completed by the end of the summer of 2020.

Among the projects:

• A new heating and cooling system in the Denair High gymnasium
• Replacing the aged heating and cooling units at Denair Elementary Charter Academy
• Installing HVAC sensors at each school, allowing staff to better control temperatures and save money
• Installing new energy efficient LED lighting at Denair Middle School, the football stadium and outdoors across the district to cut costs by 50%
• Installing advanced irrigation control systems districtwide and sports field sprinklers at DHS

Linda Covello, Denair’s chief business official, said the district will contribute $500,000 (paid for by DMS bond money and/or fees collected from housing development) and use what is known as a municipal lease to finance the rest.

Submitted by Denair High School:

Bryson Prock recently became just the 15^th person in the 91-year history of Denair High’s FFA chapter to earn the national organization’s prestigious American Degree.

Prock, a 2018 Denair graduate, was honored at the 2019 National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis. He was one of a record 4,353 FFA members recognized as American FFA Degree recipients.

In addition to their degree certificate, each recipient receives a gold American FFA Degree key.

Less than 1% of the nearly 630,000 FFA members in the United States qualify for the award. According to the FFA website, only those members “who have demonstrated the highest level of commitment to FFA and made significant accomplishments in their supervised agricultural experiences” earn the American FFA Degree.

“It’s a good thing to put on your resume,” said Prock, 19, now a sophomore at Merced College. He hopes to transfer to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, next year with a major in ag systems management.

There are many steps to achieving the American Degree, including a supervised project. Prock’s was working at his family’s dairy east of Denair. Among his responsibilities were maintaining the bedding for the 600 milking cows, assisting with breeding and using his welding skills to repair various items.

Submitted by Denair High School:

Earning a first-round bye as the top seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII playoffs benefitted Denair on a couple of levels.

First, the Coyotes limped to the finish line with injuries to a number of key players, most of whom are expected to play Friday at home against Le Grand in round two. Fullback Dylan De Silva, who rolled his ankle three weeks ago, will be in backfield again. His presence is a huge part of Denair’s powerful running back.

As much as De Silva and his teammates needed a physical break, Coach Anthony Armas said they also needed to rest mentally. They’ve been practicing since early August and playing games starting a few weeks later. Part of the reward for earning the No. 1 seed meant not having to play last Friday – or even practice since last Tuesday.

The time off was evident at Monday morning, when Denair (8-2) worked out on the Veteran’s Day holiday.

“We had a long break, which I think some of our guys really needed,” Armas said. “If we’re healthy, we’re ready. We just need to hold on to the ball, execute and play defense. If we can do those things, we’ll be all right.”

De Silva has been getting treatment on his high ankle sprain for a couple of weeks now. Armas said he’s been able to get back into the weight room, but he’s purposely not run 100% on it yet.

“Once you roll an ankle, it just takes some time to heal,” Armas said. “I think he’ll be able to deal with it this week.”

Submitted by Denair High School:

Every day, the Project Life students in Renee Hall’s special education class at Denair High School do the laundry, vacuum the floor and clean the classroom.

Twice a week, they cook meals. Sometimes it’s breakfast — an omelet, pancakes or French toast. Other times they make tacos, burritos, grilled cheese sandwiches or even cupcakes on someone’s birthday. Each Friday, they decide on a menu for the next week, make a list of ingredients and shop together at the Wal-Mart in Turlock. At the store, the students must identify the items they need and then scan them at the self-checkout register.

Four days a week, some of the students go to work at Lulu’s Ice Cream Shop and Willie’s Pizza & Wings, located side-by-side in an east Turlock shopping center. There, they make waffle cones, clean tables, fold pizza boxes and even help prep food.

At all times away from campus, they are accompanied by one-on-one aides or para-educators on Hall’s team.

It’s all a part of a focused effort to teach important life skills to students with intellectual or developmental disabilities who often are dismissed as unemployable.

“We want to teach them to be as independent as possible,” said Hall, who came to Denair this year after many years in Turlock.

The Project Life curriculum was developed in 2007 in Ohio and has been proven across the country. Denair brought it to the district last year as part of a new approach to special education.