A little adversity never hurt anyone.
The Fulton Hornets confronted some in Friday night's regular-season finale against the Kirksville Tigers, yet came through it relatively unscathed and with one of the team's primary season goals accomplished.
The Hornets fought off a Kirksville comeback - keyed by senior running back Makenna Cook - to come away with a 41-20 North Central Missouri Conference victory over the Tigers on Friday night.
With the win, Fulton (5-4, 3-3 NCMC) locked up the No. 3 seed in Class 3, District 6. The Hornets - finishing with 37.31 points - will host the No. 6 seed Eldon Mustangs in a District 6 quarterfinal at Robert E. Fisher Stadium next Friday night.
Eldon (3-6, 26.56 points) finished its regular season with a 19-14 loss at Southern Boone on Friday night.
Kirksville - behind 21-0 at halftime - pulled within 28-20 of Fulton on Cook's 20-yard touchdown run with 5 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the game.
The score was Cook's second of the night, as he led all players with 227 yards rushing on 33 attempts.
"They go with him and they went with him tonight," Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said.
The Tigers (1-8, 0-6) hitched their wagon to Cook. The Hornets, meanwhile, would do the same with junior running back Travis Dean.
On the first play of the ensuing possession, Dean took a handoff from Fulton's 28-yard line off the right side of the offensive line. Dean shifted to the outside, shirked off a pair of would-be tacklers and outran a defender down Fulton's sideline for a 72-yard touchdown to give the Hornets a 35-20 advantage with 5:03 to go.
Dean - held to a season-low 30 yards last week against Mexico - bounced back with 20 carries for 179 yards rushing and four total touchdowns (three rushing) on Friday night.
"He's got great speed," Kelley said. "It was a basic zone play. He made a cut move to the outside and got to the edge, and was able to take it to the house."
Cook returned the following kickoff 30 yards to the Fulton 40. Tigers senior fullback Devin Coulson ran for 2 yards on first down, but a flag on second down pushed Kirksville back to the Hornets' 47.
A pass by freshman quarterback John Bohon to Cook lost a yard, while sophomore Tanner Schilling's only pass of the game was incomplete to Coulson on third-and-13.
Bohon returned to the game, but Fulton senior outside linebacker Sam Christensen broke up his pass attempt to Cook on fourth-and-13 to give the ball back to the Hornets with 3:04 left.
The Hornets ran the game clock down to :04 before turning the ball over on downs to Kirksville. Fulton senior linebacker Devin Gibson recovered a fumble on a hook-and-ladder attempt by the Tigers and raced 60 yards for a touchdown as time expired.
Kirksville finished with 351 total yards, including 280 rushing on 45 carries.
"Our defense bent a lot tonight, but I wouldn't say they broke a lot ...," Kelley said.
The Hornets logged the night's first points by capitalizing on Kirksville's second turnover in as many possessions to start the game. Junior cornerback Radarion Glover picked off a halfback pass by Cook and darted 40 yards down the Tigers' sideline to give Fulton a 7-0 edge with 3:53 left in the first quarter.
"... That was huge," Kelley said. "(Glover) was able to step in front of it and take it, and that kind of got us going."
Kirksville then turned the ball over on downs at the Hornets' 39 on its next series, just :11 into the second quarter.
Faced with a third down from the Kirksville 33, Christensen - playing quarterback - dumped a screen pass over the Tigers' rush to Dean, who sliced through the Kirksville defense for the 33-yard touchdown and a 14-0 Fulton lead with 9:36 to go in the half.
Christensen hit on 6-of-10 passes for 112 yards and ran eight times for 29 yards.
"Sam put nice touch on it," Kelley said of the touchdown throw. "It takes a lot of guts to stand back there when you've got (defensive end) Makenna Cook rushing in your face, but he stood back there, stood tall and made a nice pass."
Dean followed up by scoring from 3 yards out with 2:34 left to push the Hornets to their three-score, halftime margin.
Kirksville recovered an onside kick at the Fulton 48 to start the third quarter. Bohon's 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal brought the Tigers within 21-6 with 8:16 to play in the quarter.
The Hornets responded with a seven-play, 50-yard drive, using a 2-yard touchdown run by Dean at the 5:20 mark to stretch their lead back to three scores.
Kirksville went three-and-out on its next drive, punting the ball down to the Fulton 15. Dean's try at a reverse pitch to senior running back Dominique Ford on second down from the Hornets' 25 soared over Ford's head and was recovered by Tigers at the 12.
Five plays later, Cook scored on a 3-yard run to bring Kirksville within 28-12 with :53.8 left in the quarter.
Fulton's defense forced three Kirksville turnovers and limited Bohon to just 71 passing yards on 11-of-26 completions.