They don’t do anything flashy but Denair is playing for a Div. VII title

Denair head coach Anthony Armas said his team hasn’t done anything special this year.

“Our main focus is we do what we do and we do it well,” Armas said. “It’s pretty boring. We run the Wing-T offense and a 4-3 defense and it’s nothing really special. We understand who we are and know what we want to accomplish.”

Whatever they have done, they have done it better than most teams as the Coyotes (10-1) will be playing Golden Sierra (8-4) for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Div. VII title on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Liberty Ranch HS in Galt.

“It starts with the kids,” Armas said. “We have a special group of players who have bought into what we do. We have been working since January to get to where we are now.”

Those special players include senior running backs Steffin Winston (1,193 yards, 19 TDs) and Hunter Musgrave (1,109 yards and 14 TDs)

After going 2-8 last year, the Coyotes started the season 4-0 before a 35-7 loss to Ripon Christian on Sept. 21.

Armas said the loss didn’t have that big of an effect on the Coyotes as they “knew they were a good team” and behind eight starters, the Coyotes have since coasted to six straight wins with only one decided by single digits.

“We were really young last year,” he said. “We had only three senior starters. This year, they knew they were going to do something special and they hit that maturity level.”

With the title game being postponed a week due to the air quality as a result of the fires in Northern California, Armas gave his team last Wednesday-Friday off before getting back on the field on Monday.

The Grizzlies have won three straight heading into the championship and Armas sees a lot of his team in Golden Sierra.

“They work as a team,” he said. “They are a physical team and you don’t see a lot of guys freelancing on defense.”

This is the first championship appearance for Denair since 2006 when the Coyotes lost to Lindhurst in the Div. VI championship.

This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 1:20 PM.