Although still young at age 32, Devin Brown has been around football long enough to know that one game does not a season make, no matter how lopsided his initial victory as Mexico High School head coach proved.
Coming off a 40-0 romp over smaller school Wright City here Friday night, his Bulldogs will be back in action at the same time, same place this week against Kirksville to begin NCMC play. The Tigers dropped their 2008 debut 42-32 at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, after trailing 36-6 at halftime.
For Mexico to go 2-0 for the second time in as many seasons, the Bulldogs will need to shut down a Kirksville attack that produced 261 yards passing, but only 23 rushing.
“I was excited and happy for the kids, coaches and community after Friday night’s win,” the first-year MHS coach said. “But there’s still a lot of work to do this season.”
Senior Michael Howard (special teams) and junior Kurt Loyd (offnese) earned MHS player-of-the-week honors, each scoring twice, the former via a reception and a punt return and the latter on a pair of rushes. Senior Zach Yager led an enthusiastic defensive effort with 8 tackles, including 3 solos.
“Michael and Kurt had outstanding games, while Zach scored a defensive touchdown and Jermaine Thompson (a junior) picked up a fumble on a kickoff and scored,” Brown noted.
The Bulldogs complete an opening stretch of 3 home games Sept. 12 against new NCMC member Boonville.
Game 1 stats: Rushing-Kurt Loyd 18-132/2 TD. Passing-Austin Melvin 3-4-21/1 TD/ 1 INT. Receiving-Michael Howard 1-14/1 TD. Scoring-Kurt Loyd 2 TD, Michael Howard 2 TD, Nathan Hagedorn 4 XP. Tackles-Zach Yager 3 solo/5 assists/8 total, Garrett Test 2/5/7, Kurt Loyd 5/2/7.