Bulldogs ready to make history

This will be a historical season for Decatur and several other similar sized schools in Arkansas as they try to bring eight-man football back to the state for the first time in more than 50 years.

Last spring Decatur and Augusta led the push for eight-man football. Fielding enough players for conventional 11-man teams was an annual struggle with low numbers. The move has spurred more players to come out at Decatur with new coach James Ortiz estimating he’ll have between 25-27 players for this year’s team.

Ortiz, who was hired in late July, is looking to seniors Cayden Bingham (5-11, 140) and Austin Hamilton (5-9, 150) to lead the team.

“Both of them have shown that classic hallmark leadership that we need,” Ortiz. “They have a tremendous work ethic.”

The eight- man game is built for speed the Decatur has plenty of that after winning a state track championship last spring.

Ortiz was an assistant coach at Pea Ridge for 11 years before taking the Decatur job this summer. Although he has coached for 20-plus seasons, Ortiz does not have any eight- man coaching experience. He has reached out to coaches in neighboring Oklahoma who have experience in eight-man coaching for advice.

“Football is football,” Ortiz said. “We’re still going to have offense and defense and special teams. It’s still a game of hitting, blocking, catch the ball, throw the ball. You’re going to see stuff out there that is just like 11-man football.”