With his team in a 28-all tie with the Marshall Owls at halftime, Fulton head coach Pat Kelley gave it to the Hornets straight.
"We said at half we weren't going to be able to make mistakes and until we figured things out (defensively), we were going to have to match them (offensively), and we didn't match them," Kelley said. "We made a couple of mental mistakes where we weren't able to capitalize on drives and, basically, that caught us."
One offense would hit and the other would hit back just as quick. But it was Marshall which tallied the final 14 points in outgunning Fulton 52-42 in a North Central Missouri Conference shootout Friday night.
The Hornets (3-2, 1-1 NCMC) had their three-game winning streak halted despite outgaining the Owls in total yardage 522-412 and picking up 20 first downs.
It took just 25 seconds for each team to make its mark on the scoreboard after the break. On Fulton's initial offensive play of the second half, junior running back Travis Dean slithered around the left side and zipped to the end zone for a 65-yard score.
Just 12 seconds into the third quarter, the Hornets led 35-28.
"It was big," Kelley said. "Until a kickoff and a personal foul."
Marshall (2-3, 2-1) promptly responded with a 78-yard kickoff return by senior wide receiver Logan Harris. The Hornets were whistled for a personal foul on the play, giving the Owls the ball at the Fulton 6-yard line. One play later, Marshall senior running back Devin Cott plunged up the middle for a touchdown.
Fulton junior cornerback Radarion Glover busted through the line and blocked the extra-point attempt to keep the Hornets on top by a point with 11:35 left in the quarter.
The special-teams stop, in the moment, looked as if it would pay off later.
"At the time, I thought it was (a big play)," Kelley said. "I thought, "Well, we gave ourselves a chance,' but in the end it didn't matter."
Fulton - which drove into Marshall territory on all 14 of its possessions - took the ball from its own 42, looking to keep the game of touchdown tag going. Senior quarterback Sam Christensen ran for 9 yards on a fourth-and-8 and Dean gained 3 yards one play later to put the Hornets at the Owls' 25.
A pass from Christensen to senior fullback Noah Braun fell incomplete and a holding penalty pushed Fulton back into a second-and-17 from the Marshall 35. Three consecutive incompletions gave the ball back to the Owls on downs, and they cashed in one play later on junior quarterback Zach Maupin's 65-yard touchdown run.
Maupin's pass on the two-point conversion attempt fell incomplete, but Marshall still led 40-35 with 8:04 to go in the quarter. It was the last of Maupin's four touchdown runs as he finished with 185 yards on 13 carries.
"We had too many guys collapsing on the dive and nobody taking the quarterback and veer responsibilities; we didn't work on (the veer) enough," Kelley said. "I'll take blame for that."
Dean hit the Owls with a 25-yard gain on second down from the Owls' 42 on the Hornets' next drive. One play later, Christensen's 17-yard touchdown run up the middle put Fulton back on top 42-40 at the 7:04 mark.
Marshall then went in front to stay on Cott's third rushing touchdown of the night, a 12-yard effort with 4:27 remaining in the quarter.
Fulton punted on its next drive, then looked as if it had caught a break when the Owls had a high snap on a punt attempt from the Hornets' 44 with 9:30 to play in the game. Maupin threw the ball away on the scramble to give Fulton the ball back in optimal field position.
Dean tore off a 24-yard run on second down to reach the Marshall 30. But the Hornets gained just 3 yards on the next four plays as the drive ended on an incomplete pass to senior wide receiver Ja'Metrius Galbreath on fourth-and-7 at the Owls' 27 with 5:29 to go.
Marshall looked content to run the clock out, while Fulton used five linemen to combat the Owls' ground game. Marshall faced a fourth-and-7 from the Hornets' 22 with 2:45 left, but got a fresh set of downs on an 11-yard throw from Maupin to Harris.
Two plays later, Cott capped off the Owls' win on an 8-yard touchdown run with 1:29 left.
Cott guided Marshall with 192 yards on 21 carries and also scored on a 72-yard run :55 into the game.
Maupin - who had touchdown runs of 73, 2 and 22 yards in the first half - completed just 3-of-7 passes for 29 yards and an interception.
Dean carried 24 times for a game-high 209 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, to direct Fulton. Christensen completed 17-of-29 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from Galbreath in the closing seconds of the first quarter.
Glover led all players with 90 yards receiving on three catches. Braun added 61 yards on a team-high six grabs and caught a 4-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Senior wide receiver Devin Gibson notched Fulton's first touchdown on a 25-yard pass from Christensen in the first quarter.
The Hornets host the state-ranked Hannibal Pirates in an NCMC game this week. The Pirates - ranked No. 9 in Class 4 - crushed Kirksville 48-9 in NCMC action Friday night.
"We're obviously going to have to work more on the veer this week," Kelley said. "It's still an opportunity and that's what I told them. It doesn't get any easier and we have to pick up our heads and keep moving."