Mexico football hosts joint practice to cap off summer workouts

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Four squads came together to get some game speed reps with the 2026-27 high school football season right around the corner.

The Bulldogs played host to three other local schools as a way to get some real time snaps as a send off to the offseason. Capital City, Palmyra, and Mark Twain all made the journey to Hawthorne Heights Stadium to put a bow on the end of the year.

"I think it's kind of a reward," said Mexico head coach Steve Haag. "You're here for the summer lifting and practice, so at the end of it you get to bang around on some other people instead of your own teammates."

You can watch the full interview with head coach Steve Haag in the video player above.

Coach Haags' team is a younger squad than they are use to, and because of that, a lack of experience at this level is one of the main obstacles the Bulldogs will need to overcome.

"The purpose of tonight is get them on the field, see how they will respond," said Mexico head coach Steve Haag. "We still have a long way to go. But, you know, a big part of this is to see how the young kids, do, compete, against some varsity competition."

Even with the new roster, there are still systemic challenges that lie ahead. Coach Haag emphasizing that defense will need to be an area that they can still improve on. Mexico is returning several linebackers, who will hope to take a step and be a more experienced group on that side of the ball.

"Defensively we've got to do better flying to the football and tackling. We were young defensively with linebackers, but now we've become younger up front."

The added competition also gets the team acclimated to what they will be seeing when opening day rolls around.

Up Next - Mexico will open its season against Centralia on Friday, August 28.