The Marquette Mustangs caught another team off guard with its physicality Friday to drill the Mehlville Panthers 35-7 at Mehlville.

The Panthers (3-3) became Marquette’s fifth victim by failing to stop the run. Marquette (5-1) gained 323 yards on the ground on 57 rushes, and scored four rushing touchdowns.

“They’re good up front. Their running backs run well. Their quarterback runs well. They run around and hit you. They really impressed me tonight,” Mehlville head coach Eric Meyer said of the Mustangs.

This season’s losses have been ugly for the Panthers. All three have been by more than 26 points.

“It’s a step back,” Meyer said. “We’ll look and see what we did wrong. I don’t believe in deflating losses. You don’t get frustrated or upset or anything.”

Mehlville slowed Marquette early. A late first-quarter touchdown was the game’s only score until the Mustangs scored with five minutes left in the first half, and then twice in the final minute of the first half.

Marquette senior Dante McKinney scored his third touchdown of the game on a 19-yard reception from senior Matt Seevers with two seconds left.

“A couple times early in the first half, they had to throw the ball and they did a good job with that,” Meyer said.

Seevers completed four passes for 84 yards. Mehlville denied Marquette the shut-out with a two-yard touchdown run with 2:54 left as a running clock was implemented early in the fourth quarter.

“It’s constant movement. We’re constantly trying to get better,” Meyer said. “Things happen to you and you have two ways of dealing with it. You can look at it and try to improve it or you can feel sorry for yourself, and I really don’t believe in feeling sorry for yourself.”

Mehlville lost its second straight game against Marquette after winning the previous three contests.

“I thought we’d be able to do a better job up front, but they were very physical. They’re a very good football team,” Meyer said.

Sophomore Chase Brown led Mehlville with 69 yards rushing on 13 carries as Mehlville totaled 141 yards of offense. All but 19 came on runs. The Panthers fumbled twice and committed three turnovers.

The Panthers will try to avoid a losing record when they visit Parkway South (3-3) for a 7 p.m. game Friday.