Decatur's soccer program continues to grow strong

— Decatur soccer coach James Garner admittedly doesn’t measure progress necessarily by wins and losses.

But the boys’ team earned its first state tournament berth in school history a year ago and it’s paying dividends this season.

The size of the boys’ team has doubled from a year ago, said Garner, who started a boys’ and girls’ team at Decatur six years ago.

“Since we managed to get to the state playoffs last year, there’s a lot more interest,” Garner said. “We’ve usually had14 or 15 boys, but this year we’ve got 30 out.

“Taking that step to get to the state tournament is a big thing. When I went to a coaches’ meeting for the first time, they said it would take at least six years to build a program.”

Getting more numbers out is a big deal since Decatur, which is Class 2A for basketball and football, competes against Class 3A and 4A schools in soccer. Class 4A is the smallest classification for soccer in Arkansas.

Decatur is in a conference with Gentry, Berryville, Green Forest, Bergman and Eureka Springs.

The Bulldogs are offto a 2-2 start with wins over Bergman in a nonconference match and Rogers Heritage’s junior varsity. They begin 4A-1 Conference play at Berryville on April 5.

Decatur lost 10 starters to graduation off last year’s team, but the cupboard’s not bare since Garner makes it a point to get all his players on the field as much as possible.

Senior team captain Isidor Mendoza leads the way, while his younger brother, Tommy, was the team’s leading scorer a year ago as a freshman. Brothers Mario and Victor Urquidi are also key members as freshmen, Garner said.

Sports, Pages 10 on 04/04/2012