Asked for a critique in an otherwise impressive 33-21, come-from-behind win against visiting School of the Osage to open the season, Fulton Hornets head coach Pat Kelley had one.
That would be the comeback aspect, where Fulton trailed 14-0 five minutes into the game.
"My one complaint of Friday night was our start," Kelley said. "You're not going to get yourself in a 14-point hole every week and win football games, but we were fortunate enough to do it that night."
Kelley would rather the Hornets not get in that position tonight when they opens their road schedule against the Versailles Tigers. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Versailles remains at home after holding off Knob Knoster 29-28 in last week's opener.
Fulton was victimized by a pair of touchdowns within a two-minute span of the first quarter against Osage. After the Indians' initial score, they caught the Hornets off-guard with an onside kick, which quickly turned into seven more points a few plays later.
"Down 14 points after five minutes, we never really panicked," Kelley said.
Junior quarterback Devin Masek then connected with senior wide receiver Radarion Glover on touchdown passes covering 14 and 44 yards, respectively, to draw Fulton even in the second quarter. After Osage went back on top late in the half, Hornets senior running back Travis Dean ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run 8 seconds before intermission to tie the game at 21-all.
Dean's 58-yard scoring bolt late in the third quarter represented the go-ahead points, while an interception return for a touchdown by senior defensive tackle Clayton Bristol in the fourth quarter punctuated Fulton's second-half shutout of Osage.
"... We sat down at halftime and talked about the things we did wrong and we came back out in the second half and corrected those," Kelley said. "They ran a little option at us (in the first half) and we didn't keep good responsibility with the quarterback, and we fixed that in the second half. They hurt us with the screen (pass), we obviously talked about that at halftime, and we fixed that in the second half."
Adjustments by the Hornets from the secondary down to the defensive line proved pivotal in a second half when they allowed just 65 yards of total offense. Fulton limited the Indians to just 2-of-12 passing for 18 yards in the final 24 minutes after yielding 125 passing yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
The play-action passing game Osage burned the Hornets with in the first half became non-existent due to a combination of having to play from behind and an increasingly-present Fulton pass rush.
The Hornets sacked Indians sophomore quarterback Zack Wheeler three times in the game, two coming on coverage takedowns in the second half.
Osage finished with 331 total yards, 159 coming after halftime.
"We got a couple of hits on the quarterback and we were able to pinch in on the rollout and the coverage of the flats, which allowed the back end to really stay on their guys as well," Kelley said.
Dean sparked the Fulton offense with a career-high 227 yards rushing. Glover had four catches for 74 yards as the Hornets finished with 356 yards of offense.
Versailles returns 17 starters this season, including 10 on a defense employing even fronts after using a 3-5-3 alignment in previous seasons.
Fulton's offense is the first one the Tigers will see this season that doesn't employ a single- or double-wing scheme.
Kelley expects there to be an initial feeling-out period for the Hornets tonight.
"The biggest question is how they'll play us when we go out to spread," Kelley said. "For us, the first quarter, at least the first few series, will be a chess match. We'll show a lot of our formations just to try and figure out how they're going to defend us."
Finding offensive sparks besides Dean and Glover, who figure to be heavily shadowed by Versailles defenders, will be critical.
"You'd like to spread it around, but at the same time, you take what they give you," Kelley said. "I'm sure this week they'll be looking at (Glover) out there in the screen game, so we'll need to do some things there to make sure we can open up the other side."
Defensively, the Hornets will see multiple sets from the Tigers they usually face from their own offense in practice.
Senior Duanne Danner - a 5-foot-8, 165-pound quarterback - directs the Versailles offense. Senior running back Dalton Schmidt (5-8, 165) and sophomore Taylor Dobbins (5-9, 170) will carry the ball and all three are slippery, effective runners.
"We're going to have to wrap up and tackle because all three of those guys are elusive," Kelley said.
A cold start on the road against the Tigers is something that - due to prior experience - Kelley hopes to avoid.
Fulton prevailed at Versailles 44-33 in 2013, thwarting a late comeback by the Tigers.
Kelley wants the Hornets to avoid that type of drama this time around.
"Versailles is a team that, no matter what, we've always had a tough time there; the last few times we've been up there, we've never been able to push ahead," Kelley said. "... We've either been able to pull it out at the end or lost at the end. ... We have to go out there and play well, and play well early."
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