Mexico had one more week before the start of football season and wanted to use it wisely.

Mexico Football Jamboree Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs played in their preseason jamboree last Friday night at Monroe City High School, having  scrimmages against Monroe City, Van-Far and Scotland County. 

Mexico had scrimmaged against other schools this summer in an event it hosted at Hawthorne Heights. However, before the Bulldogs venture to Centralia at 7 p.m. this Friday to open the season, head coach Steve Haag said he wanted to confirm a few things.

“For the most part, we wanted to see whether some guys could get on the field on a Friday night,” Haag said. “We needed to see that. We have a core group of guys we know can play. I think some surprised us tonight.”

Haag said he wanted to see the less experienced players “get fired up” against the good competition on Friday. Mexico won’t be seeing any of Friday’s teams on its schedule this season but likes the quality offered by all three schools. 

Particularly, Haag said he was happy with Mexico’s last offensive series of the night against perennial contender Monroe City. He said the varsity players matched up against Monroe City while younger guys had more opportunities against the other two schools.

“We want to have some success,” Haag said. “We want to have things we can look at and fix. I’m happy we came out and no one’s hurt.”

Haag said the Bulldogs showed physicality, and an ability to run the football and complete passes. Now, they need to avoid carrying penalties from Friday night into the season. Mexico had a touchdown erased against Monroe City because of a penalty.

Physicality is needed going into the first week, but Haag wants other areas to be sharper before that first game. 

“It is a technical game,” Haag said. “We like the physicality and all that stuff, but it is technical because we have to block the right guy. We want to protect our quarterback, we want to complete passes and we want to have big runs. All that plays into it.”