Hornets rebound in dominating style

Fulton makes Pirates homecoming victim in runaway triumph

Fulton head coach Pat Kelley didn't really like the way his Hornets began each half of their homecoming clash with the Boonville Pirates.

Everything that came after those sluggish starts, however, looked like the Fulton team that raced to a 5-0 start.

Senior running back Travis Dean rushed for three touchdowns, junior quarterback Devin Masek accounted for four scores and the Hornets experienced a return to form on their way to a 47-13 North Central Missouri Conference dismantling of Boonville on Friday night at Robert E. Fisher Jr. Stadium.

One week after being steamrolled at Class 4-ranked Hannibal, Fulton (6-1, 3-1 NCMC) dissected Boonville's defense in racking up 512 yards of total offense.

Still, that large an offensive output didn't seem likely after the Hornets' opening possession moved 1 yard on three plays. But the Pirates gave the Fulton offense a reprieve when senior Radarion Glover smothered a muffed punt by Boonville junior returner Keon Johnson at the Hornets' 46-yard line.

"We stunk the first three plays, and to get that (fumble) was huge," Kelley said. "We went and scored and got some momentum; everyone could take a deep breath at that point."

Fulton needed just four plays to get in the end zone, capping the drive off on a 19-yard Dean touchdown run off the zone read with 7 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first quarter.

Facing third-and-10 from his own 24 on the ensuing possession, Pirates junior quarterback Nick Zeitlow hit sophomore wide receiver Adam Edler for 17 yards. A personal foul on the Hornets added 15 yards to the end of the play to give Boonville a first down at the Hornets' 44.

The Pirates moved down to the Fulton 19, but Hornets junior safety Luke Gray broke up Zeitlow's intended pass to Johnson on fourth-and-6 to halt the march.

"That was huge for our defense to sort of regain their identity by winning the line of scrimmage," Kelley said. "When you stop someone on fourth down, that gives you confidence."

After benefitting from back-to-back offside penalties by Boonville, the Hornets found themselves in a second-and-20 hole when Masek fell on an errant snap at his own 19. Two plays later, Glover converted a third-and-16 by grabbing a Masek delivery right at the yard marker. Two plays after that, Dean took a handoff on the trap, disregarded about four arm tackles and raced 50 yards to push Fulton's lead to 14-0 with :11 remaining in the first quarter.

Johnson did some nifty running of his own as the first quarter expired, bolting 58 yards down his own sideline on first down. He scored on a 6-yard run two plays later with 11:20 to go in the second quarter, but Boonville missed the extra point.

The Hornets punted after a three-and-out on the following possession. Fulton senior Zach Benner - back from a one-game suspension - combined with fellow senior defensive end Alex Garner for a third-down sack of Zeitlow to force a Boonville punt.

"Zach helps because you have both he and Alex on the outside, so when you slide and protect, you leave one of them open," Kelley said.

Fulton drove 57 yards in seven plays, topped off by a 2-yard touchdown keeper by Masek to extend the Hornets lead to 20-6 with 4:25 to go in the half.

Dean followed up by scoring the last of his touchdowns on a 16-yard run with :54 left in the half. With his game-high 243 yards on 22 carries (11.05 average), Dean eclipsed his previous career-best 1,191 yards from a year ago.

Dean's gone over 100 yards in 6-of-7 games this season and eclipsed 200 yards for the fourth time this season.

"Again, you've got five guys up front who are returning starters and they certainly help," Kelley said.

The Pirates (2-5, 1-2 NCMC) stifled the Hornets on their opening possession of the second half, halting the march on junior linebacker Remi Hammers' third-down interception of Masek at the Fulton 23. Johnson raced 22 yard yards and Zeitlow scored from 1 yard on the next play to make it 27-13 with 10:17 left in the third quarter.

Fulton countered with a drive that spanned 11 plays and covered 67 yards in nearly five minutes. Masek finished it off with a 10-yard scoring dash with 5:28 remaining in the quarter.

"To our kids' credit, we took it back down there, marched it back down and scored, and took away any momentum they had," Kelley said. "I thought from that point on we played really solid defense and did some really nice things."

After a pair of scores with his legs, Masek did the rest of his contribution to the scoreboard with his arm. Backed up on his own 12 at second-and-16, Masek guided a well-placed pass down his own sidelines and into the hands of sprinting junior wide receiver Alec Fleetwood.

Fleetwood pulled away from a Boonville defender and into the end zone for an electrifying 88-yard catch-and-run touchdown to increase Fulton's lead to 40-13 late in the third quarter.

"We'd been running bubble (screen), running bubble, running bubble," Kelley said. "(Offensive coordinator Darren Masek) said we're running bubble-go. ... He just kind of drew it up in the sand from up in the press box."

Masek completed the Hornets' scoring with an 8-yard scoring strike to junior wide receiver Isaac Franklin with 8:55 to go in the game. Masek was 11-of-15 passing for 185 yards and ran nine times for 28 yards.

The Fulton defense yielded 234 yards of offense to Boonville, including 215 rushing.

The Hornets travel to NCMC rival Mexico this week for the annual Highway 54 Bowl. The Bulldogs (6-1, 3-1 NCMC) rolled past Kirksville 54-14 in conference play Friday night.