As it happens, the football careers of seniors Scott Newby, Marcus Kelly, Matt Boyce and Mitch Hendricks did not end with their senior season. The foursome was selected to represent Team USA in the Aztec Bowl, an annual game between a team of American Division 3 standouts, and Team Mexico, a team of standouts from Mexican universities.

“The trip to Mexico was eye opening, I have only been to Cancun before and Mexico City was nothing like I expected it to be. When it came to football, I was surprised to find that the universities there had it and it was very popular,” Kelly said.

In fact, the game was so popular that 32,000 fans were in attendance, and it was nationally televised.

“The crowd was crazy, before the game I would say there was over a hundred officers in full riot gear, it was a little eye opening. Not to mention we played in the Olympic stadium. We did not fill it but we had at least 30,000 people screaming, cheering, and yelling for team Mexico,” Kelly said.

“They were crazy fans. Over thirty thousand and they could use air horns and anything they wanted to be loud!” Hendricks said.

Both Hendricks and Kelly had appreciation for the talent of the Mexican team.

“It was hard to gauge the competition, I was a little thrown off by how big the players were. I would say their size was comparable to the likes of St. Thomas or maybe Bethel. You could tell that while they might not know what to do all the time they played extremely hard and with passion. It was super fun to compete against those guys,” Kelly said.

“The competition was tough but there were some really good players and then some that weren’t as good. Some were top of the line, but a few weren’t really MIAC caliber,” said Hendricks.

Other MIAC athletes also helped represent Team USA, such as Quarterback Ayrton Scott from Augsburg. Augsburg Head Coach Frank Haege also served as Head Coach for Team USA.

“I would say that my favorite part of the whole experience would have to be to meet a bunch of people from around the country. While there were a lot of people from Minnesota, there also were people from all over so it was super interesting to talk to them and learn about their football in their states,” Kelly said.

Although a last second field goal lifted Mexico over the US, Kelly and Hendricks still would have a hard time ending their careers in a better way.

“I would have preferred to win, but it was a pretty good way to end it. I would have to say that my dream was to end my career with a MIAC championship and an NCAA championship, but unfortunately that did not happen. However, I would not change my experience I had playing for Gustavus, it was an honor and I loved every minute of it,” Kelly said.

“Only beating St. John’s and St. Thomas would have been better,” Hendricks laughed.