Denair drops week 1 game to Summerville 27-19

Turnovers plagued the Denair Coyotes varsity football team and kept them from picking up the victory in Friday's season home opener after committing a total of four for the game.

Summerville took advantage of the Coyotes miscues and were able to creep out of Denair the winners in a 27-19 final.

“Defensively, we got beat up front. They didn't throw much on us, but we still need to get better at aligning on defense and controlling the line of scrimmage,” said Denair head coach Anthony Armas.

Denair managed to go up early in the opening quarter after Kyle Prock tossed a touchdown pass to Blake Davis and Justin Steeley ran it in and the Coyotes went up 13-7 after the first.

Brenden Curnow ran in the third and final score for Denair in the second quarter but that would unfortunately be the only points scored for the remainder of the game.

“We turned the ball over way too many times. Two fumbles and two interceptions and other than the turnovers, I thought our offense was much improved from last year,” said Armas. “We ran the ball well and threw the ball much better than last year.”

The Coyotes 19-13 lead didn't last long before Summerville went on to score a touchdown in the third and fourth quarter.

It didn't help that the Coyotes committed three of their four turnovers in the second half in just five total drives through the final two quarters.

“Two of our turnovers were on drives where we were moving the ball. Our final turnover came on the last play of the game,” Armas said.

Denair will next host Delta with the game scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.

“We need our defensive line to play better this week. They are mainly a double wing team with some good-sized kids. Our offense needs to do a better job of ball security,” Armas added.

Turlock gets crushed by Freedom High, 41-6

The Turlock Bulldogs varsity football team had a rough first week of the season when they traveled on the road to take on Freedom High in a game that ended 41-6.

“The biggest issue was penalties. Every big play was called back. You can't beat good teams that way,” said Turlock head coach James Peterson.

Turlock committed a total of 11 turnovers for 94 yards as opposed to Freedom’s five penalties.

“We need to be more disciplined,” Peterson said about the penalties.

Freedom absolutely shut the doors on any Turlock scores in the first two quarters and took a 34-0 lead into the closing minutes of the third quarter.

Danny Velasquez tossed the Bulldogs only touchdown of the game with 59 seconds left in the third after finding Dylan Cummings for 33-yards.

Freedom combined for 317 yards and scored three touchdowns rushing and three passing as well over the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs only put up 216 yards of total offense.

Velasquez was 5 for 17 for 40 yards, one touchdown and an interception. He also ran the ball 22 times for 90 yards.

Freedom running back Ronnie Rivers rushed the ball 22 times for 183 yards scored all three touchdowns on the ground.

With a 0-1 start, the Bulldogs competitive pre-league schedule will continue this Friday.

The Bulldogs will take on Clovis High at Livingston at 7 p.m. Friday.

“I liked our attitude this week. We will rebound and hopefully clean up some of these mistakes this week versus Clovis,” Peterson added.

T.C. Eagles fall to California School for the Deaf, 48-14

In his first game back with Turlock Christian, Mike Turpin and his Eagles varsity football team failed to find the edge over California School for the Deaf as they fell 48-14 to begin the season 0-1.

“We just need to bounce back and play even harder this upcoming week,” said Turpin.

The Eagles begin the season at 0-1 and have now failed to win their season opener in the past four consecutive seasons.

The next game for the Eagles of TC will be their home opener at Hilmar High School against Foresthill.

Foresthill is 0-1 after losing to Portola, 54-12 in the team’s season opener last Friday.

The game will begin at 7 p.m. Friday.