Mountainburg Coach Tom Harrell had to hear the warning again before he believed his ears.
Harrell was talking to Chris Nolen, the Dragons’ track and field coach who had just returned from the team’s conference meet last year. The stars of that meet had been from Decatur, and they were freshmen.
“Coach Nolen came back and said, ‘We’re fixing to have problems,’ ” Harrell said. “He said, ‘Decatur is stacked with athletes.’
“That’s not something we’re used to saying about them.”
Things change, even in Decatur. Because, make no mistake about it, two of the conference’s best football players are Bulldogs.
Meet Victor and Mario Urquidi. Fraternal twins. Multi-sport stars. Sophomores.
“That’s one thing everyone in the Decatur asks me: Did the twins move up?” Decatur Coach Shane Holland said. “I tell them, yes, they did.
“In our community, Victor and Mario are kind of legends.”
Victor, 6-0 and 191 pounds, will play quarterback and linebacker for the Bulldogs. Holland promoted Victor to play two games as a true freshman at the end of last season while defensive back/receiver Mario played one game.
Against then-defending state champion Magazine, Victor made 17 tackles. He had 29 tackles in the two games he played.
“I was pretty impressed with that guy,” Rattlers Coach Doug Powell said. “Josh Dority did the same kind of thing for us as a freshman. To see a kid do that, you have to admire him.”
The comparisons to Magazine are almost inescapable for the Urquidi twins. Powell compared Victor to Dority, a dominating since-graduated linebacker, but the proper comparison is between Victor and Mario with Ryan and Cory Chambers.
The Chambers twins were credited most with Magazine’s remarkable turnaround from terrible to conference titan to 2010 state champion. People in Magazine first talked up the Chambers twins when they were in middle school.
The Urquidi twins moved to Decatur in fourth grade. For their part, Victor and Mario want to do for Decatur what Ryan and Cory did for Magazine.
“I would love for that to happen if it was our responsibility,” said Mario, a 6-4, 170-pound receiver and defensive back. “I’ve heard a lot about them. We want to do the same.”
Victor carries the most weight as the team’s quarterback and linebacker. He feels the community wanting him to bring life to a football team that has six victories since 2005.
“I’m kind of nervous because there is a lot of pressure on me,” Victor, 16, said. “What if I do bad? I want to make the playoffs and actually win games. My personal goal is to be a better player and lead the team. I want to show them I can win.”
Holland has no doubts, and neither does Mario. While Victor is generally considered the best football player of the two, Mario is almost unquestionably the best athlete.
Mario played varsity basketball as a freshman and led the Bulldogs in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. At the aforementioned track meet, Mario impressed Nolen — and everyone else — by being the high-point scorer after excelling in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, two relays along with the high jump, pole vault and triple jump.
“I like the pressure,” Mario said. “I get better off the pressure. I want the team to win. I would love that.”
Holland has a delicate balancing act because expectations are soaring for the twins, but they are inevitably going to have struggles this year. The Chambers twins helped revitalize Magazine, but they were also members of an incredibly talented 16-player senior class, so they didn’t do it all by themselves.
“It’s really early to compare them to the Chambers twins because those guys were phenomenal,” Holland said. “Those are some pretty big shoes to fill. We expect them to be good players. Are they going to make mistakes? Yes, because they’re sophomores.
“The good is going to outweigh the bad.”
At a glance
NAME Victor and Mario Urquidi
SCHOOL Decatur
CLASS Sophomore
POSITION Victor: Quarterback and linebacker. Mario: Wide receiver and defensive back
HEIGHT/WEIGHT Victor: 6-0, 191 pounds. Mario: 6-4, 170
NOTEWORTHY Mario is four minutes older than Victor. ...Victor played two games at linebacker as a freshman and made 29 tackles, including 17 against conference champion Magazine. ... Mario was the high-point scorer at the 4-2A Conference track and field meet as a freshman. ... Mario led Decatur’s basketball team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. ... Mario and Victor are fraternal twins.