DECATUR — The Decatur Bulldogs defeated the Hartford Hustlers 37-19 on Friday, winning the 1-2A Conference football game at Bulldog Stadium.

The Bulldogs improved to 1-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. Hartford, however, dropped to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in conference.

“I am pleased with the progress we’ve made over the past couple weeks,” Decatur head coach Shane Holland said.

The Bulldogs were able to run the ball and the offensive line did a very good job, he said.

Defensively, the team played much better on Friday night. Hartford’s 49 rushes were limited to an average of 2 yards each, Holland said.

Defensively, we have to work on eliminating some penalties and definitely can’t give up too many big passes and plays, Holland said.

Junior Evan Owens, the team's quarterback, completed 10 out of 12 passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns. He threw a pass for a two-point conversion and had 14 rushes for 71 yards.

Owens also had three punt returns for 29.6 yardsand one kick-off return for 55 yards.

Senior Joe Castaneda, who plays running back and defensive back, had 16 carries for a total of 80 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior Mitchell Perry, who plays running back and linebacker, had 10 carries for 46 yards and a touchdown. He also had 12 tackles.

Junior Nu Thor had five receptions for 49 yards anda touchdown, as well as 12 tackles.

Junior Joe Yang did a very good job of blocking the offensive line and made eight offensive tackles, Holland said.

The Bulldogs will next play Mountainburg on the home field this Friday.

Junior High Win

The Bulldogs Junior High team also beat Hartford 34-14 on Thursday at Hartford.

The win leaves Decatur with 2-0 in season play.

Eighth grader Kile Shaffer scored off a blocked punt for the second game in a row.

Alan Castaneda had two touchdown runs and Victor Urquidi had two touchdown passes, one to Terry Kell and the other to Mario Urquidi.

Holland said he was also pleased with how the defense played.

Sports, Pages 11 on 09/14/2011