Mexico boys win NCMC cross country title, school leaves with seven medalists

The Mexico boys are the champions of the North Central Missouri Conference.

A group of Bulldog runners finished high in the standings of the boys 5,000 meters of the NCMC meet on Saturday at Fulton to win a conference title with 36 points, beating out Fulton’s 51 points. Fulton had the individual champion with Kai Foster, but Hunter Bickell, Brady McCoy, Andrew Peuster, Tyler Grimes, Guy Fairchild and Carter Nading finished close together to medal while Maggie Ramsey was an all-conference medalist for the Lady Bulldogs.

Fulton finished with three of the top four boys runners but had Bickell, McCoy, Peuster and Grimes take the fifth- through eighth-place spots with respective times of 17:59, 18:20, 18:21 and 18:28. Fairchild finished 11th with a time of 18:37, and Nading was 13th with a 18:49.

Ramsey ran to a sixth-place finish with a time of 22:24 as Madison Bickell was a close miss for all-conference with a 15th-place time of 23:14. Fulton’s Emery Mayfield was the individual champion with a time of 18:57, and Hannibal won the team title with 32 points.

On the middle school side, the Mexico boys won a team title in the 3,200 meters, just narrowly defeating Hannibal by two points at 43 points, and were led by four all-conference medalists. Seth Stevenson led the Bulldogs in sixth place with a time of 12:47, Israel Hernandez was seventh with a 12:54, Gavin Gruer was eighth with a 13:13 and Angel Muralles Pedroza was 10th with a 13:15. Reid Bickell and Easton Stuart just missed all-conference status but were key in the final point total with 12th- and 13th-place times of 13:37 and 13:38, finishing before a string of three Pirate runners.

On the girls side, Lisabeth Ventura Rios finished fifth with a time of 15:15 to earn all-conference status. Bentley McCarty was a near miss in 11th place at a time of 16:23.

Gooch drops two for early state exit, closes good career

Katie Gooch’s first trip to the state girls tennis tournament didn’t last until the second day.

The Mexico senior lost to a pair of eventual state medalists in Lafayette County’s Elena Williams 6-1, 6-0 and then Ursuline Academy’s Meredith Goff 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) on Friday in the Class 1 girls tennis singles tournament at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield. 

Gooch had qualified for her first state tournament and became the first Mexico girl since Grace Wortmann in 2017 following a career that included her earning all-district four times and all-conference three times. This season, head coach Kim Costley said Gooch had been playing some of the best tennis in her career, finishing with a 20-7 record, but ran into the tough competition at state.

“Katie has been playing well and today was no exception,” Costley said. “It has even seemed Katie has taken her game to another level the last few weeks.”

Costley said the initial matches were moved inside due to rain, and Gooch’s first opponent was somebody who already had a taste for state as a returning state qualifier. Williams moved on and eventually won a sixth-place medal.

Gooch’s next match against Goff proved to be tighter, especially in the second set.

“There were several runs by both players, having good rallies and exciting winners,” Costley said.

Costley said it has been Gooch’s goal for a while to make it to the state tournament, and she became even more determined after missing qualification last year at sectionals. Gooch has said she was catching up after dealing with mono earlier in the year but was healthy this season.

“It takes a lot of dedication, sacrifice, and commitment,” Costley said. “It doesn’t just happen. You have to work for it. I’m so proud of her, and we are going to miss her. She is a first-class young lady that has grown so much. She has learned to compete and represented herself and Mexico very well.”

Mexico line play varies in 13-0 Homecoming loss to state-ranked Moberly

Mexico was able to grit its teeth enough to hang around on Friday night in its Homecoming game.

Mexico vs Moberly, Homecoming Coronation Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs couldn’t grit enough as North Central Missouri Conference rival and Class 3 No. 9 Moberly defeated them 13-0. Mexico (2-6, 2-3 NCMC) held the Spartans (7-1, 4-1 NCMC) to six points – after Gage St. Clair’s two-yard run in the first quarter – until the fourth quarter when Ka’Von Tiger punched one in from point-blank range.

There were a few times Mexico broke free for a sizable run to put the Bulldogs on the Moberly side of the field and one occasion in the second quarter when Mexico started with a short field after Moberly muffed a punt. Drew DeMint and Greydon Sewell each made catches on balls that were popped in the air after arms flailed in response to incoming passes to give the Bulldogs big chunks of yardage. Still, Haag said the offense didn’t match the defense’s production on the field.

“We’ve got to support ourselves with our offense supporting our defense,” Haag said. “Some of that is coaching. Up front, we didn’t play as well as an offensive line as we should’ve. You’ve got to reset the line of scrimmage, and it was going backwards and not forwards. We’re just not good from behind the sticks.”

Mexico had seven players finish with at least one rushing attempt but was able to compile 138 yards on the ground. Hunter Cuno, PJ Perkins and quarterback Charlie Fisher each had the most carries at nine, combining for 92 yards.

Moberly seriously threatened to score a couple times in the second quarter but didn’t come away with any points. Quarterback Jackson Engel ran the ball near the left pylon and appeared to be ready to score with the ball extended, but it came loose and was recovered by Kaden Benne in the end zone for a touchback. The Bulldogs maintained some momentum after stopping Moberly at the goal line with seconds left in the first half, displaying the defensive line play head coach Steve Haag likes to see.

“With some goals we’ve set, one of them is to become better tacklers,” Haag said. “Also, we want to make them snap the ball, and we don’t want big plays. Although they had big plays, they weren’t scoring plays.”

Haag said there are only so many snaps in which a high school offense can be flawless as a mistake will eventually come. That happened on the fumble turned into a touchback, and the Spartans had to keep running play after play to try to punch in more touchdowns before halftime.

“The goal line stand was great,” Haag said. “Some things we worked on were get low and cause a pile and our defensive line did that.”

Moberly had a two-back tandem that accounted for a majority of its 212 yards on the ground, including 106 yards and a touchdown from Ka’Von Tiger and 91 yards and a touchdown from Gage St. Clair.

When Mexico factored those players in with Engel, who is capable of running effectively with the ball, the Spartans have several that can compile big numbers when the blockers are in the right place.

“They do a good job of down blocking, pulling guys and getting a lot of people to the party where the hole it,” Haag said. “You just worry about being able to stop them and making tackles there. I thought we ran lines better with our linebackers filling holes, we were in better positions tackling as we weren’t diving at people and we were getting them to the ground. They’re a smoke-and-mirrors team as they’ve got people going right and left and every which way so it’s confusing sometimes.”

Mexico stayed competitive through four quarters on Friday, which shows some improvement from the lopsided losses from early weeks, but Haag said holding Moberly to 13 points would have been a Mexico win in the past. The Bulldogs’ young roster needs to “grit their teeth” more frequently in their final chance to prepare for districts.

 “We’ve got to turn the dial up,” Haag said. “When we step in between these lines, that dial has to go up. Off this field, we want to be a nice and considerate young adult and be good in society. When you step between these lines, you got to get after it. You’re not going to be nice. It’s almost tunnel vision like I’m going to block this guy no matter what it takes, I’m going to tackle this guy no matter what it takes and I’m going to do my job no matter what it takes.”

Mexico wraps up the regular season at Class 4 Warrenton (8-0) at 7 p.m. Friday.