DECATUR — It’s hard to believe that soon it will be time for those “Friday night lights” again. For the Class 2A Decatur Bulldogs, those lights come one day early this year.

The Bulldogs will play Class 4A Gentry Pioneers in a scrimmage match up on Thursday, the 29th, at Bulldog Stadium in Decatur. The junior high game starts at 5:30 p.m., with the senior high game to start at 7 p.m.

Last year, the Bulldogs had one of their best seasons in several years, with a 6-5 record. Despite losing to Murfreesboro in the playoffs, head football coach, Shane Holland, referred to the 2012-13 season as” the biggest turnaround I’ve ever seen in a year.”

“I would like to continue where we left off,” Holland said, with the beginning of the new season just days away. “I would like to get to a point where we go outevery week and expect to compete to win. That wasn’t always the case, but we got started in that direction a year ago and we would like to continue that.”

Decatur began formal practice on Aug. 13 at Bulldog Stadium. The fi rst practice in helmets and shoulder pads came six days later on Aug. 19. The team continues to grow strong in the fundamentals, readying themselves for their fi rst outing.

The Bulldogs have 22 players on the senior high team this year.

“Some of those are sophomores that haven’t played any varsity football, some are guys that have never played in a football game,” Holland said, adding that “there are some guys that will have to play a lot of snaps.”

“We lost a lot of kids from last year,” Holland said. “Every year is different, we have a new bunch of kids, with different personalities. We’ve got to fi gure out our role.”

Being a small team from a small town means multiples roles for some of the athletes. Most players, especially the experienced ones, will fi ll dual positions on the team. This translates into some kids on the fi eld for most, if not the entire game. An offensive lineman may also play defensive tackle. In some cases, players may end up playing offense, defense, and also be on special teams.

One of Decatur’s key players, Victor Urquidi, is out for the entire football season due to a shoulder injury. Holland referred to it as “a huge loss.” Urquidi was one of the principal performers in the 2012-13 season. In fact, he and seven other players earned a spot on the all-district team.

Victor’s twin brother, Mario Urquidi, will be counted upon to fill his brother’s shoes. According to Holland, “he’s going to have a bigger role than he had a year ago. We didn’t use him a whole lot on offense lastyear. His role was kind of limited. It’s defi nitely getting ready to increase from what it was.”

The junior high team will open its series of games when it meets Gentry next week. For the seventh graders, this will be their fi rst venture toward a bid on the senior high team three years down the road.

An advantage to the Decatur junior/senior combined school is that the same coaches, like Holland, can work with the kids through the years prior to the senior high program, going through the same plays and building consistency.

As far as the junior high team, Holland said, “We really have good junior high numbers. We actually, in the last two years, in our junior high numbers, doubled in size.”

Last year, they had 21 players. This year, that number has grown to 45 in grades seven through nine. That is good news for the senior high team two or three years down the road.

If most of those kids stick with the program, there may be enough players to fulfi ll Holland’s “depth” goal of two to three players for each position. This translates to fewer players having to play on both sides of the fi eld.

Decatur junior and senior high Bulldogs will be ready for the opening kick-off on the 29th. For some players, it will be the beginning of a long, hard but rewarding road ahead.

“It’s going to take a while, but I think, if everybody stays healthy and the kids will stay with it, we will be pleased with what is going to happen,” Holland said.

The Decatur senior high Bulldogs will hold their first regular season game at home against Subiaco Academy on Sept. 6. The opening kickoff will be at 7 p.m.

The season opener for the Decatur junior high team will be an away game at Gravette on Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m.

Sports, Pages 7 on 08/28/2013