A third straight playoff appearance sure would be nice this fall, but right now Mexico High School footballers have more important fish to fry.
Welcoming back head coach Devin Brown from an August bout of illness is one of them; making sure their longest road trip of the season doesn’t handicap their initial efforts today at Hillsboro, a new opponent southwest of St. Louis and some 2 1/2 hours away, is another.
“We’ve got two long road trips really to start the season,” Brown said Thursday, noting Mexico opens NCMC play next week at Marshall before the Sept. 10 home debut against Winfield, another of four teams the Bulldogs did not face last year. Centralia and St. Charles are the others.
“You never know how kids are going to respond to a long bus ride,” Brown said Thursday. “Last year, we got off to a 1-6 start and had some things steamroll against us; we did well at the end of the season, but we hope to start better this year.”
With new quarterback Austin Reed at the controls, the Bulldogs will take the field tonight with running back Haylon Jacobs and wide receiver Toby Bracht back behind revamped offensive line.
“This was a long-range move at quarterback; I’ve always wanted to put my best athlete at quarterback,” the third-year MHS coach noted. “Austin (a junior and former wide receiver) worked hard all summer to make the switch.”
When unable to supervise preseason practice, Brown was kept up-to-date by assistant head coach Nick Hoth. Hillsboro and Mexico both needed to fill opening-week slots, thus the first meeting of the schools is close at hand.
“Once the weather cooled off the last few days, we had some of our best practices. This being game week, the guys have been locked in pretty good,” Brown noted. “It should be interesting. I don’t think either team knows much about the other.”
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A third straight playoff appearance sure would be nice this fall, but right now Mexico High School footballers have more important fish to fry.
Welcoming back head coach Devin Brown from an August bout of illness is one of them; making sure their longest road trip of the season doesn’t handicap their initial efforts today at Hillsboro, a new opponent southwest of St. Louis and some 2 1/2 hours away, is another.
“We’ve got two long road trips really to start the season,” Brown said Thursday, noting Mexico opens NCMC play next week at Marshall before the Sept. 10 home debut against Winfield, another of four teams the Bulldogs did not face last year. Centralia and St. Charles are the others.
“You never know how kids are going to respond to a long bus ride,” Brown said Thursday. “Last year, we got off to a 1-6 start and had some things steamroll against us; we did well at the end of the season, but we hope to start better this year.”
With new quarterback Austin Reed at the controls, the Bulldogs will take the field tonight with running back Haylon Jacobs and wide receiver Toby Bracht back behind revamped offensive line.
“This was a long-range move at quarterback; I’ve always wanted to put my best athlete at quarterback,” the third-year MHS coach noted. “Austin (a junior and former wide receiver) worked hard all summer to make the switch.”
When unable to supervise preseason practice, Brown was kept up-to-date by assistant head coach Nick Hoth. Hillsboro and Mexico both needed to fill opening-week slots, thus the first meeting of the schools is close at hand.
“Once the weather cooled off the last few days, we had some of our best practices. This being game week, the guys have been locked in pretty good,” Brown noted. “It should be interesting. I don’t think either team knows much about the other.”
