There were several positives Mexico football hopes to maintain into next month.
The Bulldogs play in a jamboree on Aug. 21 in Monroe City, but they didn’t have to wait until then for …
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There were several positives Mexico football hopes to maintain into next month.
The Bulldogs play in a jamboree on Aug. 21 in Monroe City, but they didn’t have to wait until then for intersquad scrimmages. They hosted Mark Twain, Palmyra and Capital City in scrimmages on Thursday at Hawthorne Heights.
This is the second straight year Mexico has hosted this scrimmage event, and head coach Steve Haag said the team is grateful to United Credit Union for sponsoring the event and providing insurance. Haag said Mexico’s performance in this year’s event had some good and bad things to look at before August.
“It was a good rotation tonight,” Haag said. “We’re looking to get reps. We’ve been going all summer. At the end of it, we want to see these guys in some live fire and see what we’re working with as we move into August.”
Haag said Mexico has a foundation to work from, and the most solid part of that foundation is in familiar areas. He said the running backs and linemen did well after those positions have been vital for years in Mexico’s offense.
“All of our running backs run hard,” Haag said. “We come off from having two veteran running backs last year. To get these young guys in there and see them run hard is always good. Up front, I saw our guys grow on the offensive line.”
Haag said the Bulldogs didn’t have the likely starting five offensive linemen together on Thursday, but others saw action that will serve them well in the future.
Mexico would like to see these areas improve even more along with the rest of the offense, Haag said. The Bulldogs want to consistently move the football as younger kids step into bigger roles.
“We’re just trying to fine-tune the offense,” Haag said. “We lost a good senior class last year. We’re going to work to replace them. Part of that is knowledge. It’s not just the type of player they are but the knowledge they carry.”
Haag said the sophomores he expects to have more playing time this season and also expects them to make mistakes against older kids. He said those miscues will hopefully decrease with experience.
“We’re going to lift two more times (this) week, and that’s it,” Haag said. “Then we’ll be off (for dead week) and then we’ll get into practice.”
