DECATUR — For the first time in the teams’ sixyear history, both the Decatur Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs soccer teams qualified to compete in the state tournament.
The Bulldogs sealed their spot as fourth seed in the 4-A conference tournament with their win against Bergman in April. It will be their second year in a row to compete.
The Lady Bulldogs defeated Green Forest 2-0 on April 27, qualifying them to compete in the state tournament for the first time.
The teams have been growing and expanding since they were started six years ago. Forty-eight students are involved in soccer this year, coach James Garner said.
“We’ve had five years of building and now we’restarting to see some success,” he said.
While Decatur is actually a 2-A school, the 4-A conference is the smallest in the state to host soccer games, so Decatur competes against much larger schools.
“Obviously they have been playing schools that were considerably larger than us and obviously they were competitive becausethey’re headed to the state tournament,” Garner told the audience at the April 29 athletic awards banquet as he presented awards to his soccer teams.
The first round of the state tournament will be held in Little Rock on May 10. While the Bulldogs’ odds of winning the tournament may be slim, just to get to go will be a great experience for the students, Garner said.
Sports, Pages 9 on 05/09/2012