Decatur loses match at home against Gentry
DECATUR — The Decatur Bulldog soccer team continued to struggle last week and dropped two contests, one on the road and another at home, due to injuries and conflicts with other sports.
Adding to the Bulldogs’ woes was the loss of their leading scorer, Jafett Puga, who is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury. This forced coaches Uli Moreno and James Garner to reconfigure their lineup and move several players into the offensive position, including senior Bracy Owens and freshman Kelvin Moreno. Senior Marck Guadarrama and junior Jimmy Mendoza remain the coaches’ two main forwards, with Mendoza taking over as the Bulldogs’ leading scorer for the remainder of the season.
Decatur was on the road April 11 to take on the number one team in the 4A conference, the Danville Little Johns, in Danville. The Little Johns were 4-0 going into the match.
It was a rough first half for the Bulldogs. They were unable to shut down the Little Johns’ offense, leading to five goals. But Decatur managed to slip the ball past the Danville goalkeeper for a point, something that few teams have been able to do thus far this season. Danville took a 5-1 lead going into the break.
The Bulldogs continued to struggle in the second half and the Little Johns scored six more times to take a commanding 11-1 lead through most of the half. But Decatur did not give up and kicked two more balls into the net, making the final score 11-3.
Decatur returned to Bulldog Stadium April 13 to take on Highway 59 rival, the Gentry Pioneers. This would prove to be one of the toughest contests of the year thus far. In addition to the soccer match, Decatur participated in a baseball doubleheader in Alpena and a track meet in Gentry.
Mendoza chose to travel with the baseball team and Owens participated in the pole vault event in the Gentry Relays, leaving the front line weak with only Guadarrama as Decatur’s experienced shooter.
A ray of hope filled the Decatur bench halfway through the first half when Owens walked onto the field to participate in the remainder of the match. He had completed his event (which he finished second behind rival Cole Cripps) and rushed back to Decatur. By the time Owens took the field, the damage had already been done as the Pioneers slipped four kicks past Decatur goalkeeper Sebastian Perez, taking a 4-0 lead going into the break.
During the second half, the Bulldogs were able to press more on offense, attacking the goal several times. But the Pioneer goalkeeper intercepted all attempts, leaving Decatur scoreless for the remainder of the match. Perez also kept a tight rein on his goal, intercepting several Pioneer scoring attempts.
The match became more of a physical contest in the second half with several Gentry and Decatur players being hit in the face and legs by opposing players. Halfway through the second half, Kelvin Moreno sustained a cut lip. The injury was not too severe and Moreno decided to continue. A few minutes later a Gentry player stepped hard on Moreno’s foot, forcing him to the sideline. But he would not remain there for long and was able to walk it off and soon be back in the contest.
Gentry continued to pound Decatur through the remainder of the match, scoring three more times to take a 7-0 lead and the win.
Decatur falls to 0-6 with five more matches remaining in the 2017 regular season. Gentry moves up to 5-1 in conference play going into its final five matches of the season.
The Bulldogs have two more matches at home, Lead Hill on April 21 at 4:30 p.m. and Green Forest May 4 at 5 p.m. The Green Forest contest will be senior night and the community is invited to come out and watch the Bulldogs play the final home game of their high school season.