With his Fulton Hornets protecting a narrow 6-0 halftime lead over the Boonville Pirates, head coach Pat Kelley had a question for his squad.
"We looked pretty sloppy in that first half and I kind of challenged them at halftime and said, "What do you want to do and who do you want to be?'" Kelley said.
Ultimately, the Hornets gave the desired response in the second half.
Fulton scored twice after the break and the Hornets' defense put the squeeze on Boonville for a pivotal 20-6 North Central Missouri Conference triumph Friday night.
The Hornets (4-3, 2-2 NCMC) snapped a two-game losing skid and defeated the Pirates for the first time in their last eight tries.
Boonville (1-6, 1-3) opened the second half with a six-play, 19-yard drive that concluded with a punt from its own 43-yard line.
On Fulton's ensuing possession, junior running back Travis Dean drove through the left side of the line for 4 yards to pick up a first down at the Boonville 34. After an illegal-procedure penalty backed the the Hornets up, senior quarterback Sam Christensen connected with senior wide receiver Devin Gibson on a 14-yard screen pass to set up second-and-1 at the Pirate 25.
Another false start came three plays later and the Hornets found themselves facing fourth-and-9 at the Boonville 33. The Pirates blitzed off the edges, flushing Christensen out of the pocket.
He eluded the defenders and flicked a pass to Dean in the flat. He reversed field and slipped through would-be tackles for 32 yards down to the Pirates' 1.
"(Boonville) brought pressure and Sam wasn't able to find his feet, he spun out of it and was able to get outside the pocket and Travis did what a smart back would do and got open, and Sam found him and Travis did the rest," Kelley said. "I thought we scored, but we were able to get it anyway, so that was a big, big call."
Christensen snuck up the middle for a touchdown on the next play, extending the Hornets to a 12-0 edge with 4 minutes, 21 seconds left in the third quarter.
Boonville gave the ball back to Fulton three plays later when junior middle linebacker Kobe Kaminski jumped on junior running back Jordan Weaver's fumble at the Pirates' 49.
Fulton maintained possession for the rest of the period, but faced a fourth-and-4 from the Boonville 34 to start the fourth quarter. That prompted Kelley and offensive coordinator Darren Masek to ring up a pass play they'd been setting up all night.
Gibson faked a bubble screen and, instead, blew by the Pirate defender on a go route. Christensen found him streaking down the sideline for an easy 34-yard touchdown.
Senior fullback Noah Braun hauled in the two-point conversion pass to stretch the Hornets' advantage to 20-0 with 11:56 left.
"We had run bubbles all night long and we knew the time was right, and they were going to come up on it and they did, and we dumped it over to get the touchdown," Kelley said.
Boonville - which beat the Hornets on a last-second touchdown in Fulton in last year's meeting - drove 70 yards in nine plays finally reached the end zone with 4:40 to go on a 22-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Nick Zeitlow to senior wide receiver Josh Judd.
The Hornets were then able to milk the final 4:38 off the clock to lock up a game Kelley called "the most important of the season" last week.
"... All I could think of after they scored their first touchdown at 20-6 was last year; it was flooding to my head and kind of the reverse where we had to come back, but like I said it was a nice job," Kelley said. "They answered the call, they knew this was a game that they could go out and win in the second half, and they did."
Dean collected a game-high 133 yards rushing on 24 carries and also scored on a 15-yard run on the game's opening drive. The Hornets ran for 200 yards in 46 attempts and outgained Boonville in total yardage, 377-216.
"Travis was a workhorse tonight," Kelley said. "We were able to get the ball to him. ... When a back is hot, you keep feeding him."
Christensen connected on 10-of-20 throws for 179 yards and an interception, while Gibson had a team-high 88 yards on four catches.
Zeitlow was 18-of-29 passing for 168 yards and Judd had a game-high 12 receptions for 124 yards. Boonville freshman running back Gabe Kaiser picked up all of his team-leading 43 rushing yards on one carry as the Pirates gained just 56 yards on 21 touches.
Fulton hosts NCMC rival Mexico for homecoming this week in the annual Highway 54 Bowl. The Bulldogs (5-2, 3-1) rolled past Kirksville in a 47-13 NCMC home victory Friday night.
•Notes: The Hornets remain in third place in the Class 3, District 6 standings with 36.01 points. Owensville (31.37) is still fourth, Eldon (29.68) maintained fifth and Boonville (22.71) stayed in sixth.