FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Decatur Bulldogs gearing up for season

DECATUR -- The Decatur Bulldogs begins their third season in the growing eight-man football league in 2020. But the team will have an entirely new coaching staff this season starting with the addition of Grant Hutson, who is celebrating his first head coaching position.

Hutson is no stranger to the Decatur program. His father Bryan began his head coaching career in Decatur as well as having coached the Bulldogs to a 6-4 season in the 1AA in 1998.

Grant Hutson received his degree at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville and continued to work on his master of arts degree in teaching -- special education. This program allowed him to teach while still doing course work at ATU.

Hutson was unable to hold a head coaching position, but he could volunteer as an assistant while finishing up his master's degree program. But Hutson had a very unique opportunity to learn coaching high school football from a master, and he took full advantage of that experience.

"My coaching experience was limited to the school where my father coached at the time," Hutson said. "My father helped build my relationship to the sport of football."

Now Hutson has his chance to follow in his father's footsteps and build his own piece of the Decatur Bulldog football legacy and build his own signature coaching style.

"From my experience, I tend to coach with the players that I have," Hutson stated. "I've been able to adapt to a very fast team that could be spread out or a larger team with big linemen that can line up in the middle and just pound the ball. It depends on what fits the players that I have."

In late 2017, Decatur and Hermitage coaches and administrators approached the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA), the governing body for all state sports and activities, about forming an eight-man football conference similar to the ones in Oklahoma and Kansas. Both schools fought for years to maintain enough players to stay in the 11-man conference but were in danger of cancellation due to low numbers.

At first the AAA would not even consider the new league, but the coaches continued the pressure and with the help of three other teams, Augusta, Woodlawn, and Little Rock Episcopal, the AAA agreed to try the new unsanctioned eight-man football league. Just before the start of the first season a sixth team, Arkansas School for the Deaf, signed on.

The next season saw the addition of Brinkley, Western Yell County and Trinity Christian bringing the league up to eight. Seeing the success of the league, more teams began signing on for the 2020 season and now the league is up to 19. It has grown so big that the AAA split the state in half with Little Rock being the center point. Now the Bulldogs will not have to travel to the other end of the state with the formation of the western conference which includes Abundant Life, Marshall, Spring Hill, Subiaco Academy plus veteran teams like Western Yell County and Episcopal will join Decatur this season.

The top team in each conference will play each other for the number one eight-man football spot.

Hutson will be joined by J.C. Dorsey who will serve as the defensive coordinator and Daniel Meyer who will be the Bulldogs' line coach. Together they will take the talent from 2019 and build on its strengths to create an exciting season for Bulldog fans.

Hutson inherits a work in progress from former coach James Ortiz. The Bulldogs return six seniors this season including quarterback Bryson Funk who has been a member since the seventh grade. Funk has the ability to think quickly under pressure and has both the arm to pass with and the speed to make running quarterback sneaks and even transition to a running back if needed.

Funk is joined by five other seniors, four of which got their start on the same seventh grade team -- Carlos Hernandez, Carlos Perez, Roger Hernandez and Damien Merworth. Any one of these players have the ability to convert plays into touchdown.

Roger Hernandez accounted for one-third of the Bulldogs' total touchdowns last season with Carlos Hernandez and Funk another third each.

Offense is just one aspect of the Bulldog game plan. Most of the senior players pull double duty as defensive linemen, cornerback and in Funk's case free safety. It is quit common to see him chase down running backs and wide receivers and foiling their attempt to advance the team toward the goal line.

One senior on the Bulldog lineup nearly watched his sports career evaporate as he was sidelined for the 2018 and 2019 football season because of a very serious injury.

Zac Luker returns to the Decatur roster this season after a tragedy in his sophomore year nearly closed down his sporting career.

It was the very first eight-man football contest of the league in 2018 when the two teams that got the ball rolling, Decatur and Hermitage met at Bulldog Stadium in Decatur on Aug. 31, 2018. Shortly after the start of the fourth quarter with the Bulldogs trailing by 13 Luker, who was on defense at the time, was blindsided by a Hermit player and knocked out. He was laid out on the field for about five minutes. Fortunately Luker's father Jeremy who was the Decatur Fire Chief and his EMTs were on hand to administer to Luker.

The younger Luker managed to get to his feet and walk off the field to a thunderous ovation by Bulldog fans. The game ended with the Bulldogs losing by six to the Hermits. As Luker was walking toward the Bulldog weight room he collapsed. The situation was so serious that the Decatur EMT's decided to call for a medivac helicopter, which would have to land on the football field.

As they were getting ready to call for the helicopter an ambulance from Gravette arrived. With no time to lose, Luker was loaded into the waiting ambulance and rushed to the hospital in Siloam Springs. He was later flown to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock where they determined that Luker's injury was so serious that he would never play sports again.

Luker sat on the sidelines during the 2019 season and during the 2020 baseball season was cleared to play where he served as a pitcher for the Bulldogs until the covid-19 pandemic canceled all sports. But he was cleared for football and will play out his final season as a wide receiver and corner back.

With the covid-19 ban on sport practices and contests finally lifted by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and the AAA, the Decatur Bulldogs can finally commit to full practice session in anticipation of the coming football season. With the right coaching staff and players in place, the Bulldog could become a formidable opponent in the eight-man football league.