Less than halfway through the first quarter of their Class 3, District 6 semifinal against the Blair Oaks Falcons, the Fulton Hornets found themselves in a three-score hole and looking for anything to build on.
Unfortunately, the Hornets found no such footing against the state-ranked Falcons.
"Any kind of momentum would have been fantastic," Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said. "It just seems like we never could take that next step toward grabbing that momentum."
The third-seeded Hornets never recovered from the opening blitzkrieg, ending their season with an emphatic 52-14 loss to No. 2 Blair Oaks on Friday night.
The Hornets finished the season at 6-5.
The Falcons, ranked eighth in the state, will now play at top-seeded and second-ranked California (11-0) for the District 6 championship next Friday night. The Pintos dismantled No. 5 seed Southern Boone 63-6 in Friday night's other semifinal.
California outlasted Blair Oaks for a 21-10 win at home on Oct. 3.
The Falcons marched through the Fulton defense on their opening possession Friday night, mixing in two sizable passing gains to complement six rushes. Senior split end Mikel Drehle capped off the eight-play, 71-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat formation with 9 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
"They just beat us up front," Kelley said. "... Like I said, they're not real big, but they're tenacious, they got out on us and they stayed on us."
Blair Oaks struck again less than a minute later. On third down from his own 30-yard line, Hornets senior quarterback Sam Christensen stepped up in the pocket to avoid the Falcons' pass rush, but had the ball popped out of his hands and into those of senior linebacker Caleb Bischoff.
Bischoff took the ball back 28 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Blair Oaks lead with 8:39 to go in the quarter.
Then on Fulton's next possession, Drehle picked off Christensen and returned it to the Hornets' 40-yard line. Six plays later, junior quarterback Jordan Hair added to the Falcons' advantage on a 12-yard touchdown run at the 6:57 mark.
"It couldn't have started out any worse," Kelley said. "We gave up big chunks of yards, a fumble gets returned for a touchdown, then you have an interception and then you blink - and it's 21-0.
"(Blair Oaks) is a team that thrives on momentum and you can't give them any momentum. We did that and it just snowballed from there."
Bischoff then extended the Falcons' edge on a 2-yard touchdown plunge with 11:49 to play in the second quarter. Senior cornerback Dominic Jamerson intercepted Christensen two plays into Fulton's following series, then ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run two plays after that to comfortably put Blair Oaks up 35-0 at the 10:14 mark.
The Hornets' offense finally broke through on its next drive when junior running back Travis Dean sliced through the Falcons' defense on a counter play for a 41-yard touchdown with 7:59 to go in the half.
"It was something we game-planned and knew we could have success on, and we did," Kelley said. "We tried to go back to it a couple of other times and had, not that kind of success with it, but we gained positive yards."
Jamerson punched back two plays later, taking a screen pass from Hair and racing 46 yards for a touchdown with 7:10 remaining. Senior kicker Chris Cooper's 19-yard field goal with :03.4 to play sent the Falcons into halftime with a commanding 45-7 lead.
Hair's 2-yard touchdown run with 3:52 to go in the third quarter represented Blair Oaks' final score. The Hornets got to the end zone again in the waning moments of the game on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Christensen to senior wide receiver Noah Given with :46 left.
Bischoff led all players with 109 yards rushing on 18 carries as the Falcons gained 346 yards on the ground. Jamerson ran for 95 yards in five attempts, while hauling in four catches for a game-high 104 yards.
Hair hit on 8-of-15 passes for 162 yards and rushed for 69 yards in eight carries. Blair Oaks more than doubled up Fulton in total yardage, 508-233.
"They're a good football team," Kelley said. "I don't think they're that much better than the score showed, but when you get off to that kind of a start, it takes a lot to get over that hump to pull back (into the game), and we sure didn't do it."
Dean carried 13 times for a team-high 55 yards as the Hornets totaled 136 yards on the ground. Christensen completed 11-of-22 passes for just 97 yards and picked up 32 yards in eight attempts.
Senior wide receiver Devin Gibson collected a team-high 54 yards receiving on five catches and Given added 39 yards on four receptions.
"We never quit, we never saw a head hang, we kept battling no matter what and I appreciate that the kids worked hard," Kelley said, "but we have to start preparing when you get to this point of the season for being a more physical football team."