Balance is going to be key for Mexico football this season.

Offensive balance, in particular, as the Bulldogs formidable running game wants to be strong in their passing game. This hopefully will be part of the reason the program improves from a 2-8 season a year ago – the program’s worst since 2012.

Head coach Steve Haag said Mexico hasn’t made it a secret it wants to throw the football more this season. For example, in the Bulldogs’ 7-on-7 scrimmage trip to Quincy, he said they threw the ball about 60 percent of the time.

“We’ve got to be able to pass it and catch it,” Haag said. “People stack their defense in the middle against us because we run the football. We’ve got to pressure people to get out of that so it can open up our pass game and our run game.”

Haag said the kids just need to catch the ball consistently since those drops easily add up to unproductive offensive drives. Mexico will have plenty of running and receiving options as part of an offense that only graduated one starter from a year ago.

A lot of those juniors and sophomores from a season ago have another year of experience under their belts, including second-year junior quarterback Charlie Fisher. He was the primary option at quarterback a year ago until sustaining an injury. Kaden Benne will be primarily used at safety but is capable of running the offense.

“Charlie’s really fast,” Haag said. “If you put him out in space, he run by a lot of people. With Kaden and him being able to throw the ball and do other things, you can mix and match and play some games with your offense that might put some people in difficult positions.”

The roster is balanced throughout as well among the roster of about 50 kids. Haag said many of those kids are a year older and will be looking for more standout seasons following award-worthy campaigns a year ago, such as running back and linebacker combinations Hunter Cuno and Peyton Hoover. The fast Drew DeMint will appear in the backfield again, and Daunte Cline and Leighton Hilderman bring a presence to the offensive and defensive lines.

Wyatt Troesser has quite a bit of experience on the offensive and defensive lines, Korbyn Dorsey returns at defensive back, and Tyson Carr will have more time at wide receiver.

“We were all pretty consistent with each other last year,” Haag said. “Troesser, Hilderman and Cline flip around to the other side and do just as good of a job on the defensive side as they do the offensive side.”

Haag said the team worked hard and maintained good attitudes throughout last season yet weren’t satisfied with the results. For the Bulldogs to turn more losses into wins this year, he said they need to focus on each Friday because the schedule expects to be tough once again in conference and out of conference.

“It’s hard to predict,” Haag said. “Who doesn’t want to be 10-0 or 11-0? If we can get into shape and we take care of the small things, they have a good opportunity to put a lot of wins on the board.”