A night before its district assignment was laid out for them, Mexico proved it can take care of business Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs defeated Class 2 District 4 foe Wright City by outsourcing the Wildcats 3-1 in the second half to win 4-2. Fernando Guzman led Mexico with a hat trick, and James Branson added another goal.

The win was Mexico’s second straight victory overall and in as many days against district opponents after the team won 3-2 in a penalty-kick shootout Monday in Moberly.

On Wednesday, Mexico’s district bracket was revealed to include a first-round matchup between the No. 6 seed Bulldogs (6-14) and No. 3 Wright City (10-5-1) at 2 p.m. Oct. 29. The Bulldogs’ North Central Missouri Conference rival Fulton (10-8-1) has the top seed in the tournament that will be hosted by Mexico.

Mexico snaps losing streak on penalty kicks at Moberly

Mexico had to work for it, but its eight-game losing streak is over.

The Bulldogs came from behind Monday to eventually play two overtime periods and best North Central Missouri Conference foe Moberly 3-2 on penalty kicks, ending a winless drought in conference games since a 1-0 victory Sept. 12 against Moberly. Mexico was down 2-0 at halftime before tying the game early in the second half and converting three penalty kicks, with Brendan McKeown’s going as the game-winner.

About seven minutes deep into the second half, Fernando Guzman scored to cut Moberly’s lead in half. In the 12th minute, Gage Walker knotted the score in the matchup between district opponents. 

Time ran out on regulation, then the first overtime period and then the second overtime period. It was then time to decide a winner, which McKeown sealed but goalkeeper Emille Scanavino secured after three blocked penalty shots — one in overtime and two in the shootout. Scanavino and Walker were each successful on penalty kicks, if the Spartans had matched Mexico shot-for-shot.

Mexico hosts its varsity Senior Night game at around 4:30 p.m. today against Chillicothe (7-9-1) following a one-half junior varsity contest at 3:30 p.m.

Cross country

Mexico boys runner-up, girls in third at Autumn Classic

Mexico’s runners showed up in their second home meet of the year.

At the Mexico Autumn Class on Tuesday, the boys finished second with 68 points — behind winner Helias Catholic’s 42 points — because of the runner-up finish by North Central Missouri Conference champion Thomas Peuster and three other top-20 finishes. The girls took third place at 83 points, trailing winner St. Dominic’s 34 points and Helias Catholic’s 62 points, and had four place in the top 20.

Peuster ran to a time of 17:43.66, which was only slower than Eldon’s Nathan Reynolds and his time of 17:03.16. The Bulldog closest behind Peuster was Tyler Grimes with a seventh-place time of 18:33.67. Andrew Peuster with a 10th-place time of 18:50.43, and Kaden Wilson with a 17th-place mark of 19:18.12 rounded out the top 20 for the boys.

Maggie Ramsey had the best time for the Mexico girls, finishing 11th at 22:09.36. The other three top-20 girls were close behind Ramsey as well as close together. Sidney Turlington was 12th with a time of 22:22.03, Viviana Benjamin finished 17th with a time of 22:47.81 and Kalea Henneberry placed 18th with a time of 22:49.47.

Eldon also had the individual winner for the girls 5,000 meters in Zoe Martonfi and her time of 19:10.22.

Junior high cross country

Hudson, Bock earn all-NCMC honors for Mexico junior high

Grace Hudson and Braiden Bock have been medaling all year for Mexico's junior high cross country team.

Last Saturday, the pair did more than that as they each earned all-conference honors at the North Central Missouri Conference championships at Indian Foothills Golf Course in Marshall.

Hudson finished sixth in the girls' 3,200 meters with a time of 14:28.46, and Bock was eighth in the boys' 3,200 meters after racing to a time of 13:18.48. Israel Hernandez just missed out on all-conference honors in the boys top 10 by finishing with a 12th-place time of 13:44.83. On the girls side, Brenda Matuz was another close miss with her 13th-place time of 15:42.85.