Submitted by Denair High School:

ELK GROVE – On this night, Bradshaw Christian simply was the better team. Led by 6-foot-8 senior center Javion Cooper, the Pride turned away Denair 60-45 Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V basketball playoffs.

Denair (26-3), which rolled to a Southern League championship behind its bruising front line and overall balance, found itself in an unfamiliar position as the smaller team against Bradshaw Christian and Cooper.

“He had seven or eight blocked shots by himself and they had 12 or 13 as a team,” said Denair Coach R.J. Henderson. “I think their length was the difference. You can watch it on film, but until you see it in person or coach against it, it’s just a different feel. I think it took us until halftime to really adjust.”

By that time, the Coyotes were down 31-21. And though they cut the lead to eight points early in the fourth quarter, they never could get close enough to really threaten Bradshaw.

“Every time we made a run, they usually answered it with a run of their own,” Henderson said. “Ten points behind felt like 25. Credit to them. Where we wanted to catch the ball, they didn’t let us.

“I wasn’t disappointed with our effort. … I just think sometimes you’re going to run up against a team that’s better.”

Jordan Smith-Siles led Denair with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Jacob Kuharski had 14 rebounds. Sophomore guard Connor Leonard came off the bench to add seven points and seven assists.

“Jordan was really our one guy who kept us in it,” Henderson said. “And I thought Connor played really well.”

Bradshaw’s victory avenged last season’s overtime loss to Denair in the second round of the playoffs.

Despite losing, Denair will play at least once more next week in the Northern California tournament. Pairings will be announced Sunday and the Coyotes certainly can expect a long bus ride to a higher seeded opponent.

“My guess is we’ll play a Section champ or runner-up,” Henderson said. “Our seniors aren’t ready for this to end yet. There were some tears in the locker room after the game. … I don’t have any idea where they’ll send us. I just know we have another game.”

Meanwhile, Bradshaw Christian moves on to the Section finals on Friday against Brookside Christian in Sacramento. Both schools also have already qualified for the NorCal tournament.

Submitted by Denair High School:

As many as 500 high school students and their parents are expected to descend upon Denair High School on Thursday night for a countywide event featuring more than 30 colleges, universities and vocational training institutions.

Sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education, the College Night presentation is held at a different school each year. This is Denair’s first time to host it.

The event is scheduled from 6 to 8:15 p.m. in the Denair High gym.

For the first time in 19 years in Stanislaus County, Stanford University will be one of the institutions with a booth at College Night. Other colleges include the University of the Pacific, UC Merced, CSU Stanislaus, Fresno Pacific, Modesto Junior College and Merced Community College, and business, trade and arts schools.

Parents and students in grades six through 12 are encouraged to attend. There will be free child care for younger children so parents and other children can attend separate workshops focused on financial aid and scholarships, admission requirements, and local educational and career opportunities.

All the workshops will be conducted in English and Spanish.

Continue reading “College Night, Career Fair Will Expose Students to Many Academic, Job Possibilities” »

One of the strengths this season of Denair’s boys basketball team has been its balance. The Coyotes haven’t relied on any one player to carry them. The sum of all the parts has been better than any individual.

That changed Friday night, when senior center Jacob Kuharski stepped up when most of his teammates were struggling with by far his best game of the season. The 6-foot-6, 235-pound senior dominated, scoring 20 points and  grabbing 17 rebounds to propel Denair to a 61-51 victory over Buckingham Charter of Vacaville in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs.

“If we don’t have him, we don’t win the game,” summed up Denair Coach R.J. Henderson.

The Coyotes (26-2) – playing in front of nearly 600 people, their largest and most boisterous home crowd in Henderson’s eight seasons as coach – were uncommonly tight for much of the game.

• Denair had its worst quarter of the season to start the game, scoring just five points to trail 12-5
• It missed 17 of its 27 free throws, including two air balls from the foul line
• It made only five of its 19 3-point attempts, well under its average

To the rescue rode Kuharski, a transfer from Pitman High who had to sit out the first 13 games. Since he joined the starting lineup in January, he has averaged 10.7 points and 8.2 rebounds. Then came Friday, when he had his way in the middle against mostly smaller defenders.

“Jacob had his best game in our program,” Henderson said. “He was timely and consistent. The motor was finally there. He’s by far the highest skilled big I’ve coached here.”

Other than Jordan Smith-Spires – who added 13 points and 11 rebounds – the rest of the Coyotes were not themselves in their first playoff game this year.

“Collectively, everyone played tight,” Henderson said. “I told them after the first quarter that I was still waiting for the Denair basketball team to show up.”

Continue reading “No. 3 Seed Denair Wins First-Round Basketball Playoff Game, Advances to Sac-Joaquin Section Division V Semifinals” »

The line begins forming about 3 o’clock every afternoon, just a few minutes after school lets out across the Denair Unified School District. One by one, thirsty middle school and high school students add to the queue, which snakes a dozen or more teenagers deep just outside the district office.

It’s time to caffeinate. And there is no better place than the Coyote Cups of Kindness coffee cart, operated by 13 special education students who are part of the Project Life program at Denair High School.

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. The goal is to teach important life skills to students with intellectual or developmental disabilities who often are dismissed as unemployable.

The coffee cart – which debuted in November 2018 – has become a big part of Project Life and, in many ways, the face of the program.

“We joke around that we’re famous,” said Renee Hall, the lead special education teacher at Denair High. “I was signing up my son for Little League in Turlock and a woman asked me, ‘Aren’t you the one who runs Project Life?’ ”

How popular is the Coyote Cups of Kindness coffee cart? It has its own Facebook page with 542 likes and an Instagram page with 973 followers. On a typical day, the students make more than 100 drinks during the afternoon rush alone. In the morning, parents dropping off their children have become regular customers. An app developed this year allows teachers and other staff members to place orders remotely; students then deliver them at the times requested.

Continue reading “Coyote Cups of Kindness Coffee Cart Makes a Community Connection for Special Education Students” »

A 25-2 regular-season record didn’t earn the Denair boys basketball team as much respect as some might think. Will that add some fuel to the Coyotes’ fire when the playoffs begin this week? Possibly.

Still, when they gathered Saturday afternoon to watch together as the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V bracket was revealed, the Coyotes came away partially satisfied. They were awarded a No. 3 seed in the 13-team tournament – and importantly – a first-round bye as well as home game in the second round.

Compare that with the past two seasons, when Denair was the No. 11 seed both years and had to go on the road. It lost in the first round in 2018 but managed to win one game last year before being eliminated.

Expectations are much higher this season after the Coyotes marched through the Southern League unscathed, winning all 12 games. Their only losses were 56-38 to Riverbank on Dec. 6 and 76-72 in Natomas on Jan. 20. Riverbank finished 15-12 overall and sneaked into the Division IV playoffs as the 17^th seed; Natomas (12-14) missed the playoffs entirely.

The relative weakness of the Southern League as well as losses to two schools that didn’t finish as strong as they would have hoped worked against Denair when it came time to seed the Division V bracket.

Brookside Christian (20-8) – which won the tougher Central California Athletic Association – was seeded first. Bradshaw Christian (16-12) – the fourth-place team in the rugged Sierra Valley Conference – was seeded second ahead of Denair, setting up a potential playoff rematch between the Pride and Coyotes next Tuesday in Sacramento in the third round. Last year, Denair upset sixth-seeded Bradshaw in the second round.

“Brookside and Bradshaw play tougher non-league schedules than we do and their leagues both are considered by being better than ours,” explained Denair Coach R.J. Henderson.

Ultimately, the outcomes will be decided on the court, regardless of which team is seeded where.

Continue reading “Denair Boys Earn No. 3 Seed and First-Round Bye in Sac-Joaquin Section Division V Basketball Playoffs” »