Denair High head football coach Anthony Armas has seen a lot of football in his days. The 2024 season is his 10th at the helm for the program and Friday night’s game against the Grizzlies of Pajaro Valley (Watsonville) at Jack W. Lytton Stadium was the 92nd of his career, but it was the first that left him nearly speechless.

After falling behind 20-0 in the first quarter, the Coyotes rallied to a 42-23 victory to improve their record to 2-2. The improbable comeback was led by a relentless rushing attack from the trio of junior Alex Vargas and seniors Jesse Ruelas and Jayden Hensley, who combined for 266 rushing yards and 40 points.

“That was one heck of a football game,” Armas said. “Those guys put on a show. I’m speechless. I really don’t know what to say. I thought we were in real trouble early on.”

Plays from the first quarter looked like scenes out of the classic Bad News Bears films. The Coyotes committed a pair of fouls on the opening drive that set the Grizzlies up for a 17-yard connection between quarterback Miguel Solano and wideout Izaak Ocampo. On Denair’s first play from scrimmage, a botched handoff gave the Grizzlies possession in the red zone, leading to a 24-yard touchdown reception from Giovanni Villanueva Benitez four plays later. The Grizzlies then immediately recovered an onside kick. That drive ended in a 29-yard scoring dash by Solano.

After a stern talking-to from Armas, the Coyotes dominated the next three quarters, beginning with a 5-yard touchdown rush by Vargas just seconds into the second frame. He then punched it in for a two-point conversion. After forcing a Pajaro Valley punt, Vargas ran in another touchdown from 5-yards out. The conversion attempt failed, leaving the game at 20-14. The Coyotes proceeded to hold Pajaro Valley to a field goal right before the half. After neither team scored in the third quarter, Vargas capped off his hat-trick, breaking loose for an 18-yard touchdown rush to make it 23-20. The Coyotes gave the Grizzlies a taste of their own medicine seconds later by recovering an onside kick. Four plays later, Ruelas hauled in a pass from Derek Potter from six yards out to extend the lead to give the Coyotes their first lead of the game. Potter then connected with Vargas to convert for two. Disaster continued for the Grizzlies on the ensuing possession, when a snap was bobbled and the ball was recovered by Denair’s Jose Mora with nine minutes to play. Less than a minute later, Potter dished it out to Austin Silva, who ran it into the end zone from 37 yards out. Again, Vargas was given the ball and converted for an extra two points to extend the lead to 36-23. After a desperate Pajaro Valley failed to convert on fourth-and-11 from their own 42 with six minutes on the clock, the Coyotes milked most of the time with a nine-play drive that ended with a 4-yard touchdown by Vargas. Braden Rush ran in for the two-point conversion. The Grizzlies could only get off one play before time expired.

“There really was no magic speech to get the kids going, to be totally honest with you,” Armas said. “That first quarter wasn’t pretty, and it’s been because of the little things that have been giving us problems all year. The penalties, missing blocks, the defense still finding their identity. We’ve been harping on those things all year, and I guess everything just finally clicked.”

No group clicked better than the running backs. Ruelas, a team captain, explained that this has been the first year he, Hensley and Vargas have been able to play on the same roster. In prior years, some were split between varsity and junior varsity. Now that they’re together for the first time, they have had opposing defenses on their heels.

“I feel like we have a really good running back core,” he said. “We work our butts off, we block for each other, we try our best. I was really hoping for a lot of yards, and it looks like we got it.”

“It’s been fun,” Hensley added. “We were stoked for this one. We came out with a lot of energy.”

The numbers they put up may be even more impressive considering a fourth running back, Degan Butler, was out with an injury. Last game, a 54-34 win over Summerville of Tuolumne, the four each ran for more than 100 yards, yet another thing that Armas had never seen in his years of coaching.

“It’s just that when everybody does their assignments, it really helps open it all up, especially for the running backs,” Vargas said. 

Vargas led the group with 102 yards and three touchdowns on 21 touches. Hensley compiled 93 yards on 11 carries. Ruelas contributed 71 and the one score on 16 rushes.

Armas and the trio also had an abundance of praise for the linemen, who all play both sides of the ball since they have a short roster of 26 and entered Friday’s game with a handful of guys banged up.

The two straight wins have the Coyotes feeling as confident as they have in some heading into Southern League competition. This week, they will take the trip to Merced for a meeting with Stone Ridge Christian, who is 2-1 and coming off a 73-0 win over Modesto Christian on Friday. With the departures of Orestimba and Ripon Christian, many in the program feel as if they can make a legitimate run for the title and qualify for postseason play.

Now that everybody is together, we really have that team chemistry going,” Ruelas said. “Everyone's pumped about every game. I feel like we really got it this year.”