Submitted by Denair Lions Club
Denair Lions Club is hosting a presentation and discussion on water flow into the delta, at the Denair Community Center, on Monday, October 24, 2016, at 6:30 pm. The forum will be presented by representatives from Modesto Irrigation District and Turlock Irrigation District.
Come and hear what impact delta water flows will have on our community, economy and ground water supply.
A flyer for the forum is available here.
Submitted by Denair Lions Club
Every year for over 40 years, the Denair Lions Club holds a pancake breakfast the first Sunday in November. The breakfast has become not only a great fundraiser, but annual social event for 400 to 600 supporters. And every year the club looks for a person or cause to donate all the proceeds from the breakfast. In past years it has paid for such things as new uniforms and equipment for the Denair Lions Youth Football league, updates and fixes to the Denair High School Baseball Field, in honor of a past member that devoted so much time to the team, and sometimes to local residents in need of financial aid for medical bills after tragedy.
This year is no different. This year all proceeds will be donated to Denair Cares and Local Churches to begin various clean up and beautification projects on Main Street and nearby roads. The breakfast will be on Sunday, November 6, 2016, from 7:00 am to noon, at the Denair Community Center, on Gratton Road. There are no tickets needed, just a donation at the door. The breakfast will include ham, scrambled eggs, and pancakes. There will be milk, orange juice, coffee and hot chocolate as well. As always, there a $5 per ticket raffle, for a beautiful handmade quilt, which will be on display at the breakfast. Come join us for this great event that is expected to serve over 600 people. There will be plenty of food, so come one, come all!
A flyer for the breakfast is available here.
Submitted by Denair High School
Back-to-back shutouts despite a paper thin roster had made the Denair High football team the feel-good story of the season heading into last week. “The Mighty 14,” some media outlets called them, paying special tribute to the number of players. USA Today featured them. So did ABC TV’s station in Sacramento.
And then the reality of having so few players struck in Friday’s showdown with defending Southern League champion Orestimba.
When quarterback Kyle Prock wrenched his knee while playing defense in the first quarter, the Coyotes’ lack of depth was exposed. The domino effect of not having Prock able to run the offense left Denair with few options. The result was a not-too-surprising 35-8 loss.
After Prock’s injury, fullback Brendan Curnow took over under center. He played a little quarterback last year, but hasn’t practiced there much this season.
“Kyle getting hurt changed our offense,” Coach Anthony Armas said. “We took one of our better running backs and had to move him, which affected other positions. We didn’t throw the ball well and we had some trouble with handoffs. It’s no one’s fault. It happens.”
With Prock’s availability to play this week against unbeaten Delhi uncertain, Armas evaluated his quarterback options during Monday’s practice. Curnow as well as Blake Davis and Dylan Mann took turns.
“Kyle didn’t suit up today. We’ll just take it day by day and see how it goes,” said Armas when asked who might start Friday if Prock can’t play.
The contest against Orestimba (4-0, 6-1) always was going to be a challenge for Denair (2-2, 4-3). Losing any player, not just Prock, made the task that much more difficult. The Warriors are one of the best teams the Coyotes will face this season. Continue reading “Short-Handed Denair Looks Ahead After Loss to Orestimba” »
Submitted by Denair Unified School District
Ken Carder will join an elite group of high-achieving ag students at this week’s FFA national convention in Indianapolis.
Carder, a 2015 Denair High graduate, will receive the American FFA degree, which is awarded to only about 1% of students nationally. 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 award.
Carder, 19, has been an FFA member for six years and represented Denair many times at the Stanislaus County Fair. He has shown cows, pigs, chickens and goats. In 2012, his Yorkshire pig was named grand champion.
“I’m been raising pigs the longest, so they’re my favorite, but I also like dairy cattle because they’re different to control,” he said.
There are nearly 630,000 FFA members across the country. Of that group, about 4,500 are being honored at a ceremony Saturday morning with American FFA degrees. Carder is one of about 350 recipients from California and the first from Denair High in six years.
Carder now attends Modesto Junior College while working at the Taylor Vet Clinic in Turlock, helping with small animals and occasionally horses. His goal is to transfer to Chico State, Cal Poly, Fresno State or possibly Kansas State, majoring in ag business.
Carder’s stepmother, Michelle Bettencourt, said he promised her a few years he would achieve a higher FFA rank than she did as a student at Downey High in Modesto. Bettencourt got as high as the state level during her FFA career.
“He said he was going to beat me and he did,” said Bettencourt, who will accompany her husband and Carder to Indiana this week.
Carder said it’s the friendships that he will miss most as his FFA ends after this weekend’s ceremony.
“I mainly just focus on the times I’ve spent with my friends at competitions or meetings,” he said when asked about a favorite memory. “I look back and know I couldn’t have done it without their support. They kept me sane.”
Submitted by Denair High School
This year’s Denair football team is unconventional in many ways – in its toughness despite often being physically outmatched, in its versatility because there are so few players and in its ability to make a big play that shifts the momentum in its favor.
All those characteristics were in evidence in the Coyotes’ 32-0 Southern League victory over Ripon Christian on Friday night at Jack Lytton Stadium.
Denair posted its second straight shutout despite never once forcing the Knights to punt. Instead, the Coyotes’ opportunistic, bend-but-don’t-break defense took the ball away time and again – intercepting an incredible seven passes while also recovering two fumbles.
Ripon Christian’s turnovers allowed the Coyotes to turn a taut 6-0 game at halftime into a blowout by early in the fourth quarter. Denair (2-1 in the SL, 4-2 overall) stretched its scoreless streak on defense to nine quarters. It hasn’t given up a point since the third quarter against Gustine on Sept. 23.
“We thought about the shutout during the game,” acknowledged Denair coach Anthony Armas. “It’s a big deal. When the game was over, we thought, ‘Holy cow, we shut them out again.’ ”
Three of the Coyotes’ seven interceptions were made by do-it-all senior cornerback Brendan Curnow, who returned his third pick 21 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown that capped the scoring. As the fullback on offense, he also ran for 124 yards on 20 carries.
Curnow’s latest heroics were nothing new. In the previous game – a 50-0 demolition of Le Grand – he scored six TDs. For the season, he now has 13 touchdowns in six games.
“He’s one of those kids who doesn’t make the same mistake twice,” Armas complimented. “He runs the ball really hard and he’s very physical on defense. Mentally, he’s a smart kid. I think that this year his body caught up with his mental acuity. He’s a little taller, a little thicker.”
One of the critical sequences against Ripon Christian (1-2, 2-4) came to start the second half. Denair committed its only turnover of the night, fumbling the kickoff and setting up the Knights deep in Denair territory. But the Coyotes’ defense stiffened and stopped R.C. on four plays inside the 10-yard line. Continue reading “Coyotes’ Defense Dominates with 7 Interceptions, 2 Fumble Recoveries in Second Straight Shutout” »