Lightning struck twice on Friday after Charlie Fisher struck twice.

The senior quarterback threw the game-tying touchdown to Kaden Benne with 34.7 seconds left in regulation and ran in the game-winning score of Mexico’s 28-21 overtime victory over Kirksville (4-6) in the Class 4 District 5 playoffs at home. The Bulldogs (6-4) trailed 21-7 at halftime but battled back to eliminate Kirksville for the second straight year in overtime.

Fisher led the offense on a seven-play 81-yard drive with about two minutes left in the game and finished with 94 yards on 9-for-18 passing. He heaved a 39-yard first down to Benne, who finished with 71 yards on five catches, and completed three more passes to his fellow senior, including the 14-yard touchdown pass.

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“It’s a player’s dream to have a drive down the field to either win or tie it,” Fisher said. “Credit to all my guys. The offensive line played really well on that last drive. They worked hard all night. Kaden Benne at the end, he got open, he made catches, he made plays and made it easy for me to be able to help us get down the field.”

Head coach Steve Haag said the players he knew were capable of making plays did just that down the stretch.

“(Fisher) has two choices,” Haag said. “Really, what it was supposed to be is Kaden picks a guy and we run an out route with Dorsey. Dorsey was wide open, but I see Charlie just rare back. He throws it, and Benne is even with the guy. It was a good throw, and Kaden made a great catch.”

Mexico had a much better second half until Dylan Akeman recovered a Kirksville fumble in overtime to clinch the victory. The Bulldogs had to respond to 21 unanswered Kirksville points.

“By no means did we play a perfect first half,” Haag said. “We’re putting ourselves behind the chains, and we muffed a punt. We knew what we could do could work. The problem was, when there was a negative play, we didn’t amp it up. We were sulking, and Kirksville was amping it up.”

The Mexico side of the stadium was quiet after Kirksville scored after a muffed punt to take a 21-7 lead. That was the case until 54 seconds left in the third quarter when Korbyn Dorsey ran three yards for a touchdown.

The drive was a typical one for the Bulldogs as they took their time with 13 plays and marched down the field for 56 yards. Mexico finished with 287 yards compared to Kirksville’s 219 yards. Brysen Hammers ran for 94 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, and Dorsey ran for 42 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries.

“I thought (Kirksville’s offense) did a good job in the first half of keeping us off-balance running and throwing and had some trick plays here and there,” Haag said. “In the second half, they got to the point they were going to run the football, and our guys got used to it.”

Fisher showed his arm but has been plenty productive with his legs as the team’s second-leading rusher this season. He finished with 13 yards because Kirksville bottled him up in the first half but allowed him to run for a first down on the game-tying drive and for another on the game-winning drive.

“In the overtime, I talked to Charlie and said, ‘Be a hero, and be the guy,’” Haag said. “He hadn’t really run the ball tonight, and he pulled it and got it down inside the five-yard line.”

Fisher said Kirksville sent a defender at him in Mexico’s 14-0 win at Kirksville in the regular season to take away that part of the option. He said he couldn’t stretch his legs much this time either so he had the fresh legs late in this game.

“They did the same thing tonight,” Fisher said. “I took a chance on a play in overtime, and they ended up biting down on it because we’ve been doing it all night. I was able to get a big-chunk play out of that, and that really helped us go down and score.

Mexico is repeating last year’s late season success but wants to diverge from its season-ending loss last season at Hannibal. The Bulldogs visit No. 1 seed, state No. 5 and conference foe Hannibal (7-2) again at 7 p.m. Friday.

“I thought we did well against them when we played them the first time and had our opportunities,” Haag said. “Our guys will be ready and excited. If we block and do our assignments, we can move the football against people.”

Haag pointed out to his players after the game that Mexico clinched its first winning season in five years. This is the senior’s first winning season, and Fisher said this is what the Bulldogs wanted.

“It means a lot,” Fisher said. “For my first three years, I view them as disappointing because I think we were better than what our record showed the past few years. It was really big to get this win for us tonight.”