Mexico quieted the Hannibal crowd at times on Friday night.

Mexico at Hannibal Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs’ season ended in the Class 4 District 5 semifinals after a 42-27 loss at state No. 5 Hannibal but were within one possession until the final minutes of the game. In fact, Mexico took the lead three separate times, with its latest lead being owned early in the third quarter at 27-22.

Head coach Steve Haag said his team was clearly ready to play and fought hard to prevent the end of the season, but it takes a lot to defeat the North Central Missouri Conference foe. The Pirates (8-3) had defeated Mexico 40-0 already this season and then extended their winning streak over the Bulldogs (5-6) to nine with Friday night’s victory but to work for it following three previous meetings Mexico was outscored 150-15.

“When you’re playing a Hannibal, you’re going to beat yourself against the wall for four quarters, and hopefully, that wall falls,” Haag said. “I thought it was going to tip over there. A couple calls probably that the coaching staff made that we’re not happy with, if we could take those back, then I think we give ourselves a shot. Don’t take anything from the kids. They did a great job.”

Mexico wishes it could take some moments back, namely the two turnovers that turned into touchdowns for Hannibal. The Bulldogs lost a fumble in the first quarter to give the Pirates a short field and a 7-0 lead. Haag then said he made a bad call on a fourth-quarter interception that ended a nine-play Mexico drive at the Hannibal 12-yard line, eventually leading to the Pirates going ahead by two possessions.

The Bulldogs could use hindsight to wish they didn’t allow a 53-yard rushing touchdown by Landyn Essig in the final minutes of the first half on fourth down, putting Hannibal ahead 22-21 at halftime. However, the fact that a few plays made a difference between a win or a loss shows how Mexico fought in the game.

“You take that long touchdown run away, we go in up six points and we get the ball back, we go down and score, and now we’re up two touchdowns,” Haag said. “Those are the opportunities that you look back on and say, ‘Man, there was our shot.’ If you’re going to beat them, that’s what you’ve got to do.”

The district loss obviously means the final game for the seniors. Hunter Cuno was one of those seniors who not only had a strong final performance against Hannibal but was also a difference maker in the final weeks of the season. Cuno finished with 220 rushing yards and a touchdown on 27 carries against the Pirates, which followed two games over 100 yards and four touchdowns in three weeks since coming back from injury.

Haag mentioned several linemen that supported Cuno in a “trap play” against Hannibal and have been crucial to the offense’s success in recent weeks. Some were seniors, showing how resilient this senior class was until the end. Along with junior first-team all-conference lineman Leighton Hilderman, Dalton Arndt, Daunte Cline and Wyatt Troesser are kids that will graduate but made it clear they didn’t want their football careers to end.

“Our biggest thing was getting north and south,” Haag said. “We’ve got to get three or four yards, and Cuno does a great job with that. Against a team like this, usually they’re pretty good on the outside. Early on, we were able to run outside with Drew (DeMint) and Korbyn (Dorsey). They did a great job of getting north and south when they got out there, but the whole thing was we’ve got to go north and south and stay in front of the sticks.”

Cuno rumbled down the field for 49 yards during Mexico’s first drive of the second half to set up a three-yard touchdown by Dorsey. After catching the winning touchdown in the previous week’s 21-14 double-overtime district win at Kirksville, Dorsey ran for two touchdowns, finished with 51 yards on nine carries and caught a two-point conversion after a Charlie Fisher quarterback sneak to give Mexico an early answer and 8-7 lead.

Despite Hannibal being without top running back Michael Ferreira due to injury, Essig and Darion Washington picked up the slack in the backfield. Essig finished with 117 rushing yards, and Washington had two runs of at least 30 yards in the second half, helping the Pirates outscore Mexico 20-6, in his 110 yards on the ground. Washington ran for a six-yard touchdown to give Hannibal a 28-27 lead in the third quarter after an injury timeout for himself following a 33-yard first-down run.

“They got back into their split-back-veer-type stuff that they ran for years,” Haag said. “They did what they needed to do.”

Haag said he was happy to have a healthy roster by the end of the season and having all of the pieces made the difference on defense. Hannibal failed multiple fourth downs in the first half to give Mexico that momentum opportunity before halftime spoiled a bit by Essig’s long touchdown. “Lighter” practices that didn’t have as hard of contact helped keep the Bulldogs fresh, Haag said.

Capping the season with two competitive games against top-five teams in Class 4 showed Mexico was ready for the playoffs, but Haag said some tough losses against a challenging non-conference schedule put the Bulldogs on the right track. He said a schedule that includes Centralia, Southern Boone, Odessa and MICDS isn’t enviable but are good preparation for when wins matter most. Mexico finished 5-6 after a 2-8 season a year ago.

“It’s about Week 10,” Haag said. “Week 10 is when you start playing and is when it counts. You win and move on or you go home. I thought we were a way better team in Week 10 than we were in any other weeks. If we start over and we’re playing Week 1 next week, I think we have a couple more wins under our belt.”

“Your heart aches for the kids because I know they wanted to play another week and try to win a district title. That’s the sad part as a coach. You say goodbye to seniors, but you have to come back.”