Recent Injuries Slowing Decatur
Last updated Tuesday, September 5, 2006 10:40 PM CDT in Sports
By Nathan Allen
The Morning News
SPRINGDALE -- The injury bug has bitten the Decatur Bulldogs, and they're starting to feel the effects.
Decatur (0-1) lost another one of its starters last Friday when senior offensive lineman Aaron Baltrusch (6-foot-0, 220 pounds) suffered a knee injury, leaving him out for about two weeks, Decatur coach Kevin Youngblood said.
The Bulldogs lost their season opener to Cedarville 33-0.
Decatur is also without the services of senior wingbacks Jeff Nugent (5-10, 180) and Jeremy Lowery (5-8, 150). Nugent, who broke his collarbone in Decatur's preseason scrimmage against Pea Ridge two weeks ago, will be out for about six weeks and Lowery, who recently suffered an ankle injury, will be out for about three weeks, Youngblood said.
Youngblood said backup quarterback Eric Brown (5-9, 160) will be out for about two weeks when he has some upcoming oral surgery.
"If it's not one thing, it's another," Youngblood said. "Without our regular starters, it's going to be extremely tough on us."
Youngblood said his team also committed several turnovers last week because of its special teams.
"It was 20-0 after the first quarter," Youngblood said. "We'd fumble or whatever -- we couldn't do anything.
"Excitement is one thing around here, but the kids have to go out and get things done. That's the bottom line."
Kicking Game Hurts Eagles In Opener
Huntsville coach Ed Baker said his team will work more on its kicking game this week after a dismal performance last Friday night against Harrison.
The Eagles (0-1) fumbled twice on kickoff returns, giving Harrison good field position on one fumble and a touchdown on the other.
"That's one area that I thought we were doing pretty well," Baker said. "We definitely had more mistakes than normal. When you turn the ball over like we did, it just killed us."
Baker said he's hoping Huntsville's tough nonconference opponents -- like Harrison -- will help his team when it begins conference play.
"That's always the idea," Baker said. "We've got some areas right now where we've definitely got to improve. We're going to work a little more in all areas to be sure that we'll be ready for now on, because we can't have stuff like kicking mistakes hurt us in the future."
West Fork Finds Its Quarterback
He came away impressed during the summer, when his newly anointed starting quarterback showed the character of a veteran -- not a sophomore -- at team camps and 7-on-7 competitions.
But West Fork coach Bryan Dougan couldn't have expected anything close to the performance he received last Friday night from Daniel Holiday in his first career start.
Holiday hooked up with Andrew Tabor for 109 yards on three completions and added a 53-yard scoring strike to Scotty Gilliam -- all in the first half. West Fork finished with 456 total yards in its 46-8 victory over Pottsville.
"He ran the junior high last year, every down of it, and you can see he really learned from that," Dougan said. "The biggest thing is that he has the back of the other guys on the team. That's so important."
Pioneers Running Back Questionable
The lone bright spot from Gentry's 22-7 loss last Friday night at Pea Ridge might not be available this Friday when the Pioneers take on Elkins.
Ethan Robinson ran for 50 yards in the first quarter, including a 24-yard touchdown run, before suffering a sprained ligament in his foot.
Gentry coach Jeff Stewart said he'd proceed with caution regarding his running back.
"Chances are, we'll hold him out," Stewart said. "He's real questionable. I'm sure he could probably be tough and play with the injury, but we've got to think about the rest of the season."
Stewart's team will however welcome back two players back from discipline issues and two others from injuries.
"That gives us a little more depth than we had at Pea Ridge," he said.
MORNING NEWS SPORTS WRITER RYAN MALASHOCK ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
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