The Denair High football team (0-5) stepped on to the field in hopes of ending their losing streak and picking up their first win of the season as they took on the Knights of Ripon Christian (4-1) Friday night.

Things looked good for the Coyotes on the first play of the game as Andrew Brown of Ripon Christian was brought down in the back field by a host of Denair defenders for a six yard loss. However, Brown was quick to answer back and show his stuff as he took a fourth and five sweep 60 yards to the house with 10:00 remaining in the first quarter. With a bold two point conversion, the Knights took an early lead of 8-0.

The Coyotes were forced to punt on their next drive, but the bad snap did not help their cause giving Ripon Christian solid field position from the 28 yard line which they capitalized on with a 30 yard run for another Knights touchdown.

Less than two minutes later Dominyc Silva’s pass intended for Tyler Kindle was intercepted by Brandon Dotinga and was soon followed up by a Brown touchdown run.

Denair put together 49 yards of offense on the following drive and was knocking on the door for their first touchdown of the night, only to turn the ball over on downs.

Starting off the second quarter, the Coyotes had a solid drive taking advantage of a fourth down encroachment call against the Knights to eventually find pay dirt on an Alex Valle touchdown run.

Heading into the second half with a score of 38-6, Denair had their work cut out for them. When Brown brought the opening kickoff 70 yards to the end zone it was not looking good for the Coyotes. The long run must have fired up the Denair offense, however, as they covered 67 yards on the ensuing drive including a 42 yard pass by Silva and finally finding the end zone with a five yard run by Kindle. The Coyotes added two points on the point after touchdown bringing the score to 44-14.

Kindle and Valle combined for over 150 rushing yards behind a hard working Coyote offensive line of Ryan Galhano, Zack Johnson, Luis Mendoza, Cody Shannon and Sean Anderson, but it wasn’t enough to match up to Brown’s 275 yards of total offense that eventually led the Knights to a 50-14 victory.

“We are improving every week, and that’s the whole idea,” Denair head coach Rich Goodwin said.

The Coyotes will be on the road next week as they continue to look for their first win at Mariposa County High School.