Fulton Hornets head coach Pat Kelley called the final 12 minutes of Friday night's game against the Moberly Spartans "the longest fourth quarter in 28 years of coaching."
When all was said and done, though, Fulton emerged on top.
The Hornets resisted the Spartans' late rally and came away with a 23-13 victory in their North Central Missouri Conference opener at Robert E. Fisher Stadium.
Fulton (3-1) notched a third straight win and downed Moberly - the defending NCMC champion - for the first time since 2009.
The Spartans cut into the Hornets' 23-0 fourth-quarter lead on an improbable fourth-and-32 conversion. Sophomore quarterback Drake Davidson hit senior wide receiver Dupree Alexander for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 9 minutes, 39 seconds remaining.
Moberly (1-3, 1-1) maintained the momentum when it recovered an onside kick at Fulton's 47-yard line.
"... We never got behind, but there was a point there with 10 minutes left there in the fourth quarter after they scored the first touchdown and got the onside kick where you felt like you were behind and we managed to keep ahead of it and finish things right," Kelley said.
Following the recovery, the Spartans pieced together a seven-play drive that halted at the Hornets' 15 on an incomplete pass in the end zone from Davidson to senior wide receiver Scott Mason.
Fulton took over with 8:05 left but was eventually forced to punt from its 18, but the ball bounced off the leg of Alexander and the Hornets recovered at their own 46. Fulton's offense took 2:07 off the clock with the possession, but had to punt with 3:55 to go and Moberly returned the kick to midfield.
Davidson then found sophomore running back Drake Gross on a 15-yard touchdown on a screen pass to bring the Spartans within 10 points with 3:36 remaining.
Fulton senior running back Dominique Ford returned the ensuing kick to the Moberly 44, then appeared to seal the win when he took a handoff up the middle for a 44-yard touchdown run. The score, though, was called back on a penalty, one of eight flags the Hornets drew for a total of 80 yards.
The Spartans got the ball back at their own 11 after a Fulton punt with 2:19 to go, but the Hornets turned Moberly over on downs, allowing the offense to kneel and close the game out.
Fulton's defense - which was "lights out all night," according to Kelley - limited the Spartans to 231 yards of total offense, forced three turnovers and got a pair of sacks from junior defensive tackle Alex Garner.
"The defense played fantastic all night," Kelley said. "We've given up 19 points in three games and we played a quality opponent tonight."
The Hornets scored first when they tallied their third safety in as many games. Fulton found itself in a fourth-and-30 at the Moberly 31 when senior quarterback Sam Christensen slung a pass toward the end zone intended for senior wide receiver Devin Gibson.
The ball was intercepted by Alexander at his 1-yard line, but was stripped out of his hand on the attempted return. Alexander jumped on top of the ball in the end zone to push the Hornets to a 2-0 lead with 6:18 to go in the first quarter.
"It was the breaks of the game," Kelley said. "Fortunately, a lot of breaks went our way, but a lot of them didn't."
Fulton would catch - or rather - make its own break early in the second quarter when the Spartans were forced to punt from their own 16.
Moberly's game tape showed frequent line-drive punts, prompting Kelley and his staff to go for the block rather than set up a return. The gamble paid off when junior Andy Baysinger came through the line and swatted Spartans senior Gregg Bain's punt, picked the ball up and ran it in from 1 yard out to extend Fulton's lead to eight points with 10:19 left in the half.
"We talked about on the sideline about how most kids would just fall on it, but he had the wherewithal and awareness to pick it up and move it in," Kelley said.
Moberly tried a fake punt five plays later from its own 42. Baysinger, senior Andrew Wayant and junior Kobe Kaminski corralled Bain for a 7-yard loss at the Spartans' 35.
A play later, Fulton junior running back Travis Dean - a game-time decision coming in - made Moberly pay with an effort that his coach called a "man's run."
Dean - who missed last week's game with an injury - took a handoff up the gut for an easy first down. His legs continued moving and he eventually carried a pair of Moberly defenders across the goal line for a 35-yard score and a 16-0 Hornet advantage with 8:49 to go.
"That was a determined run and we need to see more of that from him, and I think we will," Kelley said.
Fulton - which posted 197 yards of offense - tallied its final score on a 20-yard screen pass from Christensen to Ford at the 4:33 mark of the third quarter.
Dean led all runners with 82 yards on 10 carries. Christensen ran 17 times for 39 yards and completed 3-of-9 passes for 33 yards.
Davidson hit on 14-of-28 passes for 140 yards for the Spartans, while paced all receivers with five catches for 67 yards. Bain finished with a team-high 59 yards rushing on 13 carries.
The Hornets continue conference play this week at Marshall. The Owls prevailed at Kirksville in a 29-6 NCMC victory Friday night.