Gooch advances to state tennis first time, first Mexico girl in 5 years

This year was definitely not last year for Katie Gooch.

Katie Gooch at Girls Tennis Sectionals Gallery

The Mexico senior qualified for sectionals last year but couldn’t take one more step to state. In her second state sectionals trip on Saturday, Gooch qualified for the state tennis tournament for the first time in career, defeating Father Tolton’s Claire Elizabeth Condict 6-4, 6-4 at the Fairgrounds Park Netplex in Mexico. 

Gooch is the first Lady Bulldog to go to state since Grace Wortmann qualified back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018. For Gooch, she has earned all-district four times, all-conference three times, and will now be a state qualifier. She is happy to say that she should be ready after dealing with a case of mono last season.

“Last year, I had mono for a good portion of the season so I struggled to catch up,” Gooch said. “I didn’t do so well until districts, but still, I didn’t have enough prior work in stuff after recovering from that to get me to state. This year, I was illness free and I really worked hard and over the summer too."

Mono has a variety of symptoms, including fatigue. Gooch already was dealing with an energy shortage from the illness and then she said she had to make up ground after not playing for two weeks. 

Head coach Kim Costley has been Gooch’s coach for all four years and was the coach along with assistant Sarah Olson when Wortmann was at state. When it came to Gooch, Costley said there were some areas Gooch improved from her work in the offseason that looked strong in her sectional victory.

“She added some tools to her match that she hasn’t had before,” Costley said. “This year, she was really able to get to more balls than she has in the past, and she’s just mentally tougher. Some of that is being a senior. You’ve been through it, you’ve done it, you know what to expect, you know how to stay in the point and you know how to not get ahead of yourself.”

Father Tolton sent two singles players and a doubles pair to the sectional and also won team districts this season. Gooch said her mobility had to be sharp to counter Condict’s play.

“She had really good placement,” Gooch said. “If I got out from where I’m supposed to be, she knew that and would make a good shot.”

Costley said Gooch has been playing better tennis as of late and was ready for that challenge. During districts the previous weekend, Gooch earned first place after defeating Lutheran St. Charles’ Emma Wichmann 7-5, 6-1 in the finals to cap a day she didn’t drop a single set and only lost four games prior to the first-place match.

During sectionals, Costley said she thought Gooch “played a little safe” at moments and then went on more runs when she went back to being aggressive. 

“She’s been playing great tennis the last couple weeks,” Costley said. “The last couple weeks is some of the best tennis that she’s played for her career. She’s peaking at the right time.”

Now Costley is able to return to state on Friday at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, she said her new state qualifier will have a big challenge ahead of her when she is placed in the Class 1 singles bracket as one of the 16 best players in the state. Part of it the difficulty is the draw, or the matchups made in the bracket that could even square someone off with the No. 1 girl in the state. However, she said Gooch should seize this once-in-a-lifetime moment.

“(Olson) and I took some notes today of some things we’ll need to work on this week to help her prepare,” Costley said. “It’s just a great opportunity so just go and have a good time.”

Gooch will be happy to have her coaches at state with her as she heads into uncharted territory for her.

“I’m very grateful for my coaches,” Gooch said. “I know I wouldn’t be winning without them. Kim and Olson always give really good talks that really calm me down and helps me stay out of my head.”

Mexico volleyball fails to emerge from ties, loses in four to Warrenton

Mexico needs to simplify its play to ball-set-ball-hitter.

Mexico vs Warrenton Photo Gallery

Head coach RaShonda Willis said the Lady Bulldogs lost in four sets (19-25, 25-19, 21-25 and 22-25) to Class 4 Warrenton on Monday at home because of the inconsistency with this sequence of play. The score in each set was tied on multiple occasions, but Warrenton (6-15-1) emerged with the advantage and victory more frequently.

Willis said she needs to adjust the rotation the correct way to make sure the best group of girls are on the court at the right time. She believes Mexico (3-18-1) played better later in the match, especially during the winning second set, but there were too many balls that dropped in the middle area, or what she has called the “donut hole.”

“They weren’t receiving the ball and/or picking up on those hits being right outside of the hitters,” Willis said. “Understanding that and putting the players on the court that understands, ‘Hey, I have to be right behind the hitter, or on receive, I have to be straight and center. We’re working on ball-setter-ball-hitter because it’s a skill we all should have. When the ball is a free ball in the back, setter gets the ball, they come up, the hitter gets the ball and (the setter) is falling back.”

If the Lady Bulldogs move in this manner, Willis said the donut hole will be filled more often and they will be much smoother on the court.

Mexico was cruising the most during the second set after Warrenton knotted the score at 14. JaClynn Cline, who led the team with 10 kills and four service aces, pushed down the ball for a block to gain possession. She then went on a serving frenzy, securing all four of her aces and giving Mexico a 7-0 run that eventually was the difference in taking the set,

“A lot of the time, Jackie got the blocks and hits because she was watching the ball and getting ready to put it down,” Willis said. “Continuing to build her confidence, because she’s just a sophomore, saying, ‘You can put the ball down and get 20 kills in a game.’”

Willis said Cline and Emily Moppin are Mexico’s best hitters. Moppin followed Cline with seven kills and had a couple blocks, Nevaeh Long finished with five kills, and Mary Test had three aces and two blocks. 

When it comes to Moppin, Willis said she can hit the ball hard on swings but was doing a good job on Monday of softly putting the ball down.

“We’re figuring out how to place the ball,” Willis said. “We’re finding the donut hole or the 1 spot where they’re set is, so we’re trying to take the set out of play. She’s building her confidence. She and Cline are smart and are able to watch the ball in and put the ball down. I trust them. Now I need them to trust themselves.”

Willis said Brooke Smithee also stuck out to her as she came in and regularly received serves well, convincing the coaches she can play the varsity back row.

Mexico played Tuesday at Brookfield (0-16).

Bulldogs unable to clear early goals, lose 9-1 to Fulton via mercy rule

Mexico wanted a much better start to Monday’s game.

Mexico vs Fulton Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs played the most recent soccer edition of the 54 Rivalry with North Central Missouri Conference and district foe Fulton at home but couldn’t extend it to a full game, losing 9-1 via the mercy rule in the 62nd minute. Fulton had Jayden Ayers and Lane Henley each net hat tricks, but the three goals that had a lingering effect on Mexico were the three goals score by the Hornets in the first 20 minutes.

Head coach Bill Gleeson said Mexico (6-9-2, 0-7 NCMC) fell behind quickly 5-0 within the first 20 minutes before trailing 5-1 at halftime. He said the first trio of goals were goals that were easily preventable after the Bulldogs failed to clear the ball out of their defensive half of the field.

“We just made little mistakes, and they just capitalized on it,” Gleeson said. “Those three goals shouldn’t have happened, but that’s just the game. You wish you had a timeout because they just needed to refresh their mind. In soccer, you don’t have timeouts so it’s all on the players to get in the right headspace.”

Gleeson said Mexico was in the right headspace and “buckled down” better in the latter 20 minutes of the first half. After playing Fulton (7-8, 2-5 NCMC) so many times and with the potential to see the conference rival one more time in districts, Mexico has tried ways to control the speed the Hornets run out with players like Ayers, Christian Mahoro, who scored once, and Luke Holland, who scored twice. 

“We worked a little bit on a new formation to battle those quick elements,” Gleeson said. “It was kind of shaky, which threw us off at the beginning. They regrouped themselves and got back into the original formation, where they were comfortable. I think that helped boost their confidence.”

The Bulldogs found the net in the 24th minute after Sebastian Mena just beat a Hornet for possession, pushing the ball to Brendan McKeown. Mexico’s leading scorer knew what to do with the ball about the quarter of the field away as he booted it in.

“Toward the end of the first half, we really were doing well winning the ball in the middle and finding those feet and working our way up,” Gleeson said. “We had some good looks but couldn’t capitalize on them all.”

Fulton dominated in shots at about 36-7, meaning goalkeeper Emille Scanavino finished with 19 saves. Scanavino made 13 of those saves in the first half, turning away Ayers a handful of times and delaying his hat trick until the 43rd minute 

“Some of those I was like, ‘Oh my gosh and then Oh, alright. Good job,’” Gleeson said. “He had a great game and made good stops.”

Mexico played Tuesday at conference foe Kirksville (7-7, 4-3 NCMC), who defeated Mexico 4-0 in Mexico in September.

Mexico beaten in time of possession, loses 24-13 at Kirksville

Mexico’s offense was too inconsistent for victory on Friday night.

North Central Missouri Conference foe Kirksville doubled up the Bulldogs on offensive plays – 77 to 39 – to hand them a 24-13 loss in Kirksville (3-4, 2-2 NCMC). Mexico (2-5, 2-2 NCMC) scored on its first offensive play after Charlie Fisher, who had a 69-yard touchdown pass later to Shantez Dorsey, completed a 35-yard touchdown to Drew DeMint but didn’t score again until the fourth quarter.

“They’re big up front,” head coach Steve Haag said. “They’re pretty aggressive on defense. They were in our face pretty quick, and we played on our heels offensively and defensively. We weren’t able to move the ball that well.”

Mexico was outrushed by Kirksville 221 yards compared to 58 yards. DeMint finished with 63 offensive yards, and Fisher had 120 yards on 5-for-15 passing with two interceptions to go with two touchdowns. 

Offense and defense affect each other, and since the offense wasn’t able to sustain drives, the defense was on the field longer. Kirksville ran for a 30-yard touchdown late in the game, and Haag said the Bulldogs seemed tired.

“When your defense is out there that long, and they played really well with how many plays they were out there, it’s hard to win,” Haag said.

Hunter Cuno led the defense with nine total tackles and was followed by six tackles each from Peyton Hoover and Leighton Hilderman.

Mexico plays its Homecoming game against North Central Missouri Conference foe and Class 3 No. 9 Moberly (6-1, 3-1 NCMC) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Mexico girls shut out of state golf tournament

There won’t be any Mexico girls going to the state meet this year.

Reagan Craig, Alexis Henderson and Ella Connell finished a respective 61st, 64th and 65th out of 66 golfers at the Class 2 District 2 meet on Monday at Eldon Golf Club. The cutoff score that was owned by Centralia’s Tess Stephens was 1-5, or 33-over par.