Decatur loses final matches of season

Photo by Mike Eckels Jimmy Mendoza (left), Luis Ocampo, Jafett Puga and Rigo Rubi (back behind Puga) form a wall in an effort to deflect the ball away from the net. The Decatur Bulldogs played their final home game of the season against the Prairie Grove Tigers at Bulldog Stadium in Decatur May 3.
Photo by Mike Eckels Jimmy Mendoza (left), Luis Ocampo, Jafett Puga and Rigo Rubi (back behind Puga) form a wall in an effort to deflect the ball away from the net. The Decatur Bulldogs played their final home game of the season against the Prairie Grove Tigers at Bulldog Stadium in Decatur May 3.

DECATUR -- The Decatur High School soccer team ended its 2016 season with a pair of losses, one at home and one on the road.

The soccer team played its final home game of the season May 3 in Bulldog Stadium against the Prairie Grove Tigers. The Tigers sported a 6 and 3 conference record against the Bulldogs' 2 and 7.

The Bulldogs went on the defensive with David Lopez as goalkeeper. At the 22 minute mark, the Tigers scored on a long penalty kick. The ball flew long and high, catching Lopez off guard.

A short time later, Marck Guadarrama made a corner shot across the net, tying the game at one goal each. Toward the end of the half, Prairie Grove attacked the Decatur goal and a mistake by the Bulldog defense gave the Tigers their second point of the match. Prairie Grove went into the break leading the Bulldogs, 2 to 1.

Decatur went on the offensive through most of the second half. Decatur's offensive line, consisting of Kevin Maciel, Luis Ocampo, Jafett Puga and Guadarrama, attacked the goal several times. But superior goalkeeping skills by the Tiger goalie prevented Decatur from scoring.

Lopez and the defensive line successfully repelled several Prairie Grove scoring attempts. The match ended with the Tigers taking a 2-1 victory over the Bulldogs.

"I see a lot of progress from where we were at the beginning of the season," said Barry James, Decatur soccer coach. "We're getting some passing done. We were only two seconds away from getting the second goal. If we had made a shot two seconds earlier, we would have tied the game."

The Bulldogs traveled to Dardanelle May 6 for their final game of the season. But the Sand Lizards, who were near the top of the conference, controlled the entire game, scoring four goals in the first and two in the second to take the 6-0 win over Decatur.

The Decatur Bulldogs finished the regular season with a 2 and 9 conference record and 2, 13 and 1 overall.

The Decatur Booster Club will host its 2015-16 sport banquet May 21 at 5 p.m. in the cafeteria at Decatur Northside Elementary. This is to honor the many athletes from the soccer, baseball, basketball, softball, track, football, cross country and shooting teams for their commitment to excellence in sports.

Sports on 05/11/2016