Fulton football looks to upend state-ranked Hannibal

FULTON, Mo. - "Why not us?"

For this week, it's the rallying cry of the Fulton Hornets with the state-ranked Hannibal Pirates coming to town.

"We see upsets all the time and we've been able to (be a part of them) in the past, so that's kind of our mantra this week," Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said Tuesday afternoon. "We need to go out and play well and as hard as we can, and try not to make mistakes and see what happens."

The Hornets will try to upend Hannibal - ranked No. 9 in Class 4 - in a North Central Missouri Conference showdown tonight at Robert E. Fisher Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Fulton (3-2, 0-1) returns home after falling in a 52-42 shootout at Marshall in last week's NCMC opener. The Hornets' three-game win streak was abruptly ended due to the Owls' veer option attack, which knifed through Fulton's defense to the tune of 389 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.

Missed assignments and tackles led to the majority of Marshall's ground total, something that frustrated Kelley.

"In the simplest terms, we stunk on the field tackling," he said. "We missed a lot of tackles that we needed to make. ... So if nothing else, we're going to look at it."

Marshall quarterback Zach Maupin scored touchdowns on runs of 73, 2, 22 and 65 yards, benefitting from the attention the Hornets' defense was paying to the dive play.

"That's assignment football; the guy assigned to the quarterback didn't have the quarterback and he scored (four) touchdowns that way," Kelley said.

Ideally, Hannibal isn't the kind of opponent you want to have those types of lingering issues against. The Pirates (4-1, 3-0) come in with their traditional veer option, which they run with split backs or out of the I-formation.

"They're a different kind of animal because they've run it for so long," Kelley said.

Hannibal - which cruised to a 48-9 NCMC win at Kirksville last week - sports an uptempo offense sparked by a trio of capable skill players.

Senior quarterback Austin Kirby (5-foot-9, 160 pounds) guides the offense, which calls a quick huddle close to the ball before snapping off the next play.

"Any quarterback they put back there has the authority to give, pull, pitch or keep, and so you have to play that man responsibility," Kelley said.

Sophomore Shemar Griffith (5-6, 170) fits the mold of the Pirates' scatback who is elusive in the open field and dangerous if the Hornets' tackling woes continue. Versatile junior Jerry McBride (5-11, 185) has seen time at both running back and receiver, and possesses a contrasting running style to that of Griffith, yet can yield the same results.

"Griffith, if you get him in space, he's kind of hard to contain," Kelley said. "McBride is a long, lanky kind of runner, but he also has some power and it's that same thing of if you let him get out in the open, it's hard to bring him down."

The threesome will run behind an offensive line anchored by a returning all-state tackle in junior Dylan Powell (6-3, 235). Powell and his mates are quick off the line and steady in their blocking.

"We have to be ready for them to be out of the huddle and ready to go because their linemen are going to be down and (then), here they come and knock you off the ball," Kelley said.

Fulton's defense will be without junior safety Andy Baysinger, who will miss tonight's game with a sprained right knee. Baysinger's replacement is still being determined, Kelley noted, though the Hornets are toying with different schemes to compensate for his absence.

Defensively, Powell anchors a Hannibal unit that switches between three- and four-man fronts.

"He's been on the inside, he's been on the outside," Kelley said. "He's an awful big, strong guy and talented, and we definitely need to keep our eye on him."

Fulton rang up 522 yards of offense against Marshall, but had trouble warding off the Owls' pass rush off the edges late in the game.

"We're going to have to get on and stay on blocks; I don't know if we did that last week as much as our running backs did a fantastic job of finding a crease," Kelley said. "And that's what we tell our lineman all the time - you don't have to blow people off of the ball, but you do need to get in their way and you do need to hold your blocks because if our guys can find a crease, we can find success."

Success that could lead to the kind of bounce-back effort Kelley knows his team is capable of executing.

"Anything can happen on any given night if we play loose (and) we play excited," Kelley said. "We're at home and we've played well at home this year, so we need to continue that."