MEXICO ROUNDUP: Bulldogs score 54 in 54 Bowl, runs around Fulton

By Jeremy Jacob, Sports Editor
Posted 10/5/22

Mexico drove toward its destination and reached it many times Friday.

The Bulldogs repeatedly made trips to the endzone in a 54-7 win against district and North Central Missouri Conference foe …

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MEXICO ROUNDUP: Bulldogs score 54 in 54 Bowl, runs around Fulton

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Mexico drove toward its destination and reached it many times Friday.

The Bulldogs repeatedly made trips to the endzone in a 54-7 win against district and North Central Missouri Conference foe Fulton in the latest edition of the 54 Bowl, which Mexico has now won 11 straight times. The scoring output is a season-high and the most since the Bulldogs scored 60 at Warrenton the final week of last year’s regular season, and the 418 rushing yards is also a season-high.

Anthony Shivers ran for 197 yards and four touchdowns on 10 carries, scoring two of them from more than 50 yards out and three that were north of 20 yards. Jordan Shelton caught a touchdown pass and ran one on a reverse play, Andrew Runge scored 33 yards out up the middle, and freshman Drew DeMint ran in a score from 20 yards out after the second string entered the game in the fourth quarter. Morgan Grubb had two interceptions.

Shivers brings a speed dimension to Mexico’s offense, which is such a valuable weapon any given week, head coach Steve Haag said. He said Shivers likes to run north and south but has stressed that he can reach his destination if he goes east and west as well, which he did on all four of his touchdowns.

“The first thing is we got people blocking and staying on blocks and he gets out there, he doesn’t like to run east and west,” Haag said. “It bugs him, but we try to train him, ‘Get out there and then make your cut.’ Tonight, he did a heck of a job because he got east-west but then he planted and got north-south. Once he did that, it’s like he was attached to a joystick.”

Haag describes Shivers as a “feel good” runner as in he has some good runs, then he does better and better and can make defenders miss. He did that on a 62-yard touchdown, making several Hornets miss and breaking tackles along the way to make it 34-7 early in the third quarter at that point.

Prior to that, though, Mexico had to bottle Fulton’s offense and quarterback Walker Gohring. Gohring is a multi-sport athlete, playing baseball and basketball, but most importantly, was a wide receiver last year. Haag said this explains his mobility and how he can be slippery as Gohring seemed to be always on the run before finding a receiver open after plays broke down.

“He makes things happen,” Haag said. “If he can run around, that means the receivers can run around. Then you have to cover him longer and that just makes it harder on d-backs. We weren’t getting much pressure, and then when we did get pressure, we saw him run around and then he had to make some bad choices.”

Fulton tied Mexico at 7 in the first quarter after the Hornets capped a 13-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Walker Gohring pitching the ball to Rowdy Gohring to score on a fourth-and-two play.

The Hornets had another drive in the second quarter that went 13 plays but stalled after the Bulldogs pulled down Gohring for two sacks – Tyler Thoenen on one and Kendry Taylor and Daunte Cline on the other. After a Shivers 55-yard run made it 21-7 Mexico with two minutes left in the second quarter, Walker Gohring completed a 61-yard pass to Rowdy Gohring to bring Fulton to the red zone and would soon go for the end zone.

Gohring had his target in his sights with Matt McCurdy bearing down on him but found Grubb for a 61-yard interception return. Shivers was able to find the outside route for a 29-yard score and a 28-7 halftime lead. Haag said the Grubb interception was key in keeping Fulton out of the end zone and maintaining momentum for Mexico into the second half.

“When they scored, (Grubb) set under the wrong guy, and he picked up the wrong guy and the guy scored,” Haag said. “On that one, he picked up the right guy and he got that pick. He made that right adjustment there.”

Fulton wasn’t moving the ball nearly as well as the first half as the Hornets with 11 offensive plays from scrimmage, with three drives ending in punts and the other being another Grubb interception on the pass up the middle. Quarterback Ty Sims gave Mexico its second touchdown off a turnover when he floated the first play from scrimmage to Jordan Shelton for a 20-yard score and a 47-7 lead.

Haag said Mexico definitely wasn’t happy with how it played in last week’s 49-8 loss at Hannibal so it was nice to see his team respond in a big rivalry game in this one. He said he felt better when he had the chance to see his offense go after Mexico made its first defensive stop.

“We got that stop, and I saw our offense go,” Haag said. “I got a little easier because it looked like we were firing on all cylinders. Pretty much any run we did I thought was going to work.”

Mexico (3-3, 2-1 NCMC) snagged district victory after losing its first district matchup this year in a 14-6 Week 2 loss at Southern Boone. Haag said it will be nice to shoot for a No. 3 seed, and the Bulldogs could make up ground in two weeks at Moberly, but next week is going to be a tough one for homecoming.

Kirksville (3-3, 2-1 NCMC) visits for Mexico’s homecoming game Friday after losing 45-25 at home to Hannibal in Week 6. The Tigers won last year’s meeting 28-14 so Haag said none of the Bulldogs’ non-district opponents can be overlooked.

“It will be interesting to see how it falls,” Haag said. “I like our chances against any of the district people. I’ll play any of them, but we got this tough Kirksville team, Moberly and Warrenton so we need to take care of business there.”

Softball

Mexico continues to punish district foes, defeats Palmyra, Wright City

Mexico’s run of success against district opponents continued Saturday.

The Lady Bulldogs hosted a Round Robin that involved them, Class 3 No. 10 Southern Boone and district foes Palmyra and Wright City. Mexico won 5-2 against Palmyra at 9 a.m. prior to beating Wright City 12-2 in five innings a couple hours later to move its record against district foes this year to 4-1 while outscoring them 35-15.

In the two games, Mexico had nine extra base hits with all of them except one happening in the Wright City game. Hannah Loyd hit her sixth home run of the year and Jo Thurman increased her season home run total to five, while combining to go 8-for-12 with eight runs and six RBI.

Eboni Mayfield pitched the complete seven innings against Palmyra, allowing seven hits and two runs while striking out four. Emma Cunningham went all five innings against Wright City, allowing six hits and two runs with three strikeouts.

Loyd made sure Mexico responded quickly after allowing a first-inning run to Palmyra, hitting a two-RBI home run out to center field in the bottom half of the inning. Mayfield kept Palmyra at bay while the offense figured out how to scratch runs across, which it did with three runs in the sixth inning.

Mexico didn’t waste a lot of time against Wright City, taking a 4-0 lead in the second inning after Thurman’s solo shot. A Wright City home run cut the lead in half in the next inning, but the Lady Bulldogs didn’t stop scoring until the run-rule forbade them from doing so.Thurman was intentionally walked in the fifth inning to load the bases for Lexie Willer, who made the Lady Wildcats pay with a bases-clearing double to make it 11-2. Loyd traded places with her on her double.

Mexico (18-11, 5-4 NCMC) has a chance to avenge its only district loss this year when it hosts North Central Missouri Conference rival Fulton (24-6, 8-0 NCMC) on Thursday. The Class 3 No. 2 Lady Hornets defeated Mexico 10-0 in five innings earlier this season.

Girls tennis

Four Lady Bulldogs earn all-district honors, Gooch going to sectionals

The quality of tennis was high Saturday in Wentzville, but four Mexico girls rose to the challenge.

That many earned all-district honors at the Class 1 District 7 individual tournament at North Point High School. Katie Gooch finished second in singles, also earning the opportunity to play in sectionals on Saturday, Jyllian Whitworth was third in singles, and Jocelyn Garcia and Estrella Lopez took third-place in doubles.

Head coach Kim Costley said there were eight all-district positions total. She said the doubles pair of Lani Blair and Claire Hudson had a tough draw by facing Palmyra’s No. 1 team in the quarterfinals, losing 6-1, 6-1. The Mexico pair won 6-4, 6-4 against Fulton’s team. 

“We had a pretty complete day and had many solid matches,” Costley said. “We are playing pretty solid tennis.”

Gooch defeated Fulton’s Kier Henderson 6-1, 6-1 and Palmyra’s Hadlie Kroeger 6-1, 6-1 before being beaten for the championship 6-0, 6-3 by Fulton’s Jayna Davison. Whitworth defeated North Point’s Victoire Bourdin de Bechillon 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 prior to losing 6-2, 6-2 to Davison in the semifinals and beating Kroeger 8-6 in the finals. Garcia and Lopez won matches against Fulton’s (6-1, 6-1) and North Point’s (8-1) teams but lost 6-4, 6-4 to Moberly’s team.

Mexico focuses on the team district tournament that began Tuesday at North Point, with the championship happening today.

Cross country

Mexico’s Peuster finishes in top 15 at Laker Invitational

Mexico had six runners among the top 50 in a sizable field.

Thomas Peuster finished 15th out of 146 in the boys 5,000 meters on Saturday at Laker Invitational in Camdenton, with two others joining him in the top 50. Maggie Ramsey was the top Mexico girl in the 114-runner field in the girls 5,000 meters, finishing 33rd and being one of three Lady Bulldogs in the top 50.

Peuster ran to a time of 16:55.59, Guy Fairchild was 33rd with a time of 17:48.44 and Tyler Grimes finished 50th with a time of 18:24.86. At 238 points, Mexico finished 10th out of 20 boys teams with Nixa winning the team title with 45 points and Capital City’s Keion Grieve racing to a top time of 15:40.79.

Ramsey finished with a time of 21:33.35, Kalea Henneberry was 49th with a time of 22:19.66 and Sidney Turlington ran to a 50th-place time of 22:25.11. Mexico finished with 212 points in ninth place out of 12 team, with Bolivar taking first at 70 points and Webb City’s Abigail Street finishing with a top time of 18:37.69.

Volleyball

Centralia toughs through five-set win vs Mexico

Going into Tuesday, Centralia hadn’t played a five-set match this season. Mexico had played two.

After dropping the third and fourth sets to Mexico (25-18, 25-17), Centralia took the deciding fifth set 15-11 to win its first five-setter of the year and give Mexico its first five-set loss after being 2-0 previously. The Lady Panthers won the first two sets 25-20 and 26-24 after going on serving runs to overcome a 16-14 deficit in the first and a 14-12 disadvantage in the second set.

Outside hitter Harper Forshee led Centralia with 16 kills, and setter Lexi Cook had 29 assists. Head coach Julie Crum said players like libero Katie Carrico, Morgan Ross, Addison Mabrey and Annika Hombs spread themselves “all over the stats.” For Mexico,outside hitter Jessica Stephens led with 21 kills and four service aces, libero Tessa Haefling had a team-high 30 digs, and Ally Wilson led with 18 assists.

Crum said Centralia was going into uncharted territory this season by playing past the third set as the Lady Panthers have either swept or have been swept in previous matches this season. Mexico had five-set victories against Kirksville and Marshall, so Crum said Centralia’s mental toughness had to be strong going into a fifth set after struggles in the prior two sets

“They like to neatly package up their mistakes and carry them all with them and it just weighs them down mentally,” Crum said. “Physically, these girls have so much ability, potential and power. I asked them before the fifth set, ‘Are you ready for this? Are you ready to come back?’ They took the floor, and they didn’t let down one time.”

Crum said Centralia’s energy, communication and focus was all there, which has to be the case against a fundamental Mexico team. The Lady Panthers played “for every single ball” like Crum said they should.

As was the case in the first two sets Centralia went on a run, picking up multiple service aces along the way. In the fifth set, it was Hombs behind the line as Centralia took a 10-6 lead following five straight points. Mexico refused to go away as Mabrey and Ross picked up kills to help close the match.

Mexico head coach Mendie Tutt said she is impressed with the fight the Lady Bulldogs showed to not only climb back in the match but have a chance for a win. Tutt said Mexico had to adjust to Centralia’s “topspin” serve that “goes and then it just falls,” but then throughout the third and fourth sets, Mexico placed the ball in spots Centralia wasn’t covering, especially the front row.

“We continue playing and continue fighting even though we are down, and that’s something we’ve been focusing on this year,” Tutt said. “We served aggressively, we swung aggressively, and we pushed into holes.”

At the forefront of Mexico’s resurgence were setters Ally Wilson and Lizzie Joiner, who “setting up my hitter so my hitters have something to do” and were good at “moving the ball around so their team couldn’t get comfortable.” Providing a dose of power was Stephens, whether it was close to the net or far from the net.

In every set from the third set onward, Stephens was serving while the Lady Bulldogs went on runs of at least 4-0 to wrestle back some control. In the third set, Stephens picked up three of Mexico’s six service aces on two separate 5-0 runs with her behind the line. 

“She is a player that if I ask her to put it in a spot, she can put it there,” Tutt said. “That’s a great benefit — if I ask her to serve it to a spot, she can serve it there. Having those accuracies as a player is important and is nice to have on the team. She is also a leader on the court too.”

Forshee and Ross each picked up kills to cap an 11-3 Centralia run to close the first set, Mexico was able to tie the second set at 24 but dropped it after a Forshee kill and Lady Bulldog error, Emily Moppin and JacLynn Cline softly finished for final two points in Mexico’s victorious third set, and Mexico was able to use some power with Stephens to push through Centralia’s blockers in the tying fourth set.

Crum said the Lady Panthers had to make defensive adjustments prior to the fifth set after having several balls hit down in front of them.

“Our defense really struggled to adapt to that,” Crum said. “Luckily we had that energy in the fifth set to power through.”

In the fifth set, Crum said she had contributions from several girls who provided hits and well-placed tips and knew when to “put the power on and pull it off.” Forshee and Raegan Anderson do this well typically, she said, but also had Hombs, Mabrey and Ross pick up key kills.

Centralia (8-6) moves to 3-1 in matches against district opponents this year while Mexico (4-10-1) falls to 3-2. Tutt said the fifth set could have gone either way, but she is glad how the Lady Bulldogs have fared within the district and in long matches.

“We’re not going to lay down easy. That’s for sure,” Tutt said. “If they’re going to play us, it’s going to be a match.”

Centralia hosted Montgomery County (7-7-1) on Wednesday before it welcomes Russellville (11-2) to town Thursday. Mexico plays at Southern Boone (4-7-3) on Thursday


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