Bulldogs come up empty against Hackett Hornets

Photo by Mike Eckels A Hackett player grabs the sleeve of Decatur’s Tafari James (#15) for a tackle as James was attempting to find a hole during the Sept. 25 seventh-grade game with the Hornets at Bulldog Stadium. Decatur was defeated by Hackett, 19 to 6.
Photo by Mike Eckels A Hackett player grabs the sleeve of Decatur’s Tafari James (#15) for a tackle as James was attempting to find a hole during the Sept. 25 seventh-grade game with the Hornets at Bulldog Stadium. Decatur was defeated by Hackett, 19 to 6.

DECATUR -- It was a rough night for the Decatur Bulldogs as they once again traveled south to take on the Hackett Hornets at Hackett Sept. 26.

The Bulldogs got into trouble early as the offense failed to get any kind of drive going in the first half. Decatur turned the ball over five times during the first half, had one punt blocked and had a kickoff returned for a touch down. The defense, which at times played well, had a hard time containing the Hornets and Hackett went into the locker room with a 28 to 0 lead over Decatur.

It was more of the same in the second half as Hackett's defense continued to shut down Decatur's offensive unit. Decatur failed to mount any kind of scoring drive. Decatur's defense, however, came out of the locker room with a more aggressive approach and it held the Hornet offense to only one touchdown.

But, in the end, Hackett handed Decatur its second conference loss of the season, 35 to 0.

"Defensively, I think we played pretty hard the second half," Shane Holland, Decatur's head football coach, said. "We really didn't play that poorly in the first half. It was our offense that put us in a lot of bad positions."

Victor Urquidi returned at the quarterback position after an ankle injury in the Hartford game Sept. 12. Unfortunately, the Hornet defense shut down Urquidi's passing game, only allowing seven out of 16 completions, for 78 yards.

"Offensively, I'm not real pleased with our effort," Holland said. "We didn't play very well and didn't play with a lot of effort."

The Decatur Bulldogs fall to 1 and 2 in conference play and 1 and 3 overall. At this point in time, the Bulldogs are not out of contention for a playoff berth in November. With six games left in the season, the Bulldogs can still pull off a miracle.

"We need to start putting some wins together, starting this week," Holland said. "We are at a must, must, must win to keep our playoff hopes alive."

The Bulldogs will host the Johnson County Westside Rebels during homecoming Oct. 3 at Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff time will be 7 p.m. with the presentation of the homecoming court and coronation scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Bulldogs Stats

Passing: Victor Urquidi - 7 completions, 16 attempts for 78 yards.

Rushing: Allan Castaneda- 10 carries for 14 yards, Victor Urquidi - 19 carries for 2 yards, total 29 carries for 16 yards.

Receiving: Brody Funk - 1 carry for 26 yards, Leng Lee - 3 carries for 25 yards, Tyler Riddle - 1 carry for 13 yards, Allan Castaneda - 1 carry for 8 yards, Wyatt Bingham - 1 carry for 6 yards, total - 7 carries for 78 yards.

Tackles: solo - 69, assist - 22

Fumble Receptions: Joey Barnes - 2, Kyle Shaffer - 1

In other Decatur Bulldog games, the junior high lost to Hackett at home Sept. 25, 30 to 13.

Seventh grade lost at home Sept. 25, 19 to 6.

The next games for both the seventh grade and junior high team will be against JC Westside at Coal Hill on Oct. 2. Seventh-grade plays at 5:30 p.m. with the junior high game starting at 7 p.m.

For more games and start times go to decatursd.com/athletics.

Sports on 10/01/2014