MEXICO - The Fulton Hornets knew exactly what to expect from the state-ranked Mexico Bulldogs' offense coming into Friday night's annual Highway 54 Bowl.
Mexico entered the rivalry game having thrown only 28 passes all season, and the Bulldogs leaned exclusively on their running game for 518 yards in pulling away for a 64-39 North Central Missouri Conference romp over Fulton on Friday night.
Ranked No. 9 in Class 4, Mexico (7-1, 4-1 NCMC) will maintain possession of the Highway 54 Bowl sign for a third straight year. The loss left the Hornets at 6-2 on the season and 3-2 in the conference.
"We didn't control the line of scrimmage," Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said. "We didn't tackle well, we didn't play good assignment football at times and just over-ran a lot of things.
"They're pretty good offensively and we knew we were going to have to try to slow them down, and that we were going to have to stop them, but we just didn't do a very good job."
The scoring went back-and-forth at the outset. Mexico began the game by taking 3 minutes off the clock, capping off a 10-play drive when senior Spencer Thomas scored on a 3-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes, 52 seconds left in the first quarter.
Fulton was able to quickly respond on its first series. Junior quarterback Devin Masek (17-of-27, 222 yards) completed a 66-yard pass to junior receiver Alec Fleetwood. That play set up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Masek to sophomore wide receiver Makygh Galbreath at the 8:07 mark.
"We knew they were awful aggressive on defense and we were wanting to stretch the field on the first play, and we were able to do that," Kelley said.
That was the theme of the first quarter. The Hornets' defense, though, would unfortunately feel the running attack from one of Mexico's senior backs, D'Milo Nunnelly. Nunnelly broke off touchdown runs of 10 and 76 yards in the first quarter and finished with 310 yards and five scores.
Fulton closed within 22-14 on Masek's 1-yard touchdown run with 1:32 remaining in the quarter.
The second quarter was a different story for the Hornets. The Bulldogs piled on two touchdowns from Nunnelly on runs of 36 and 59 yards to stretch their lead to 20 points at halftime.
"In the first quarter we were able to match them score-for-score, but in the second quarter we got in there and had a couple of penalties that really halted a drive when we were seeming to be going (to score) again," Kelley said.
Mexico scored on its first possession of the third quarter and forced a fumble on the first play of Fulton's second possession of the half, which led to another touchdown and increasing the Bulldogs' lead to 49-14.
Then, as Kelley described it, Fulton found a spark. Senior running back Travis Dean ran back the ensuing kickoff for an 80-yard touchdown and that led to 19 unanwered points by the Hornets.
Fulton's defense forced Mexico to turn the ball over on downs at its own 24-yard line. Dean capped off a quick three-play scoring drive with a 15-yard touchdown run.
Dean also scored on a 4-yard run late in the game and finished with 257 yards.
Facing a third-and-12 from his own 10 in the fourth quarter, Masek connected with senior wide receiver De'Areyon Estes for 38 yards. Two plays later from Mexico's 45, Masek was chased out of the pocket and completed a pass to senior wide receiver Radarion Glover for 21 yards.
Masek tried to connect with Galbreath in the end zone two plays later. The pass was tipped by a defender, and junior wide receiver Alec Fleetwood ran over to make the catch for a 14-yard touchdown to bring the Hornets within 49-33 with 8:26 to play in the game.
"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Kelley said of Fleetwood's grab. "You get behind and you're going to have to start throwing."
Mexico, though, regained control by responding with two scoring drives that took 7 minutes combined off the clock to secure the win.
"I told the kids that I was most proud of the way we played in the second half," Kelley said. "You come out in that situation, we go down, and we could have hung our heads and been done with it."
The Hornets' final total was the biggest scoring onslaught the Bulldogs have allowed this season. Mexico's defense had only give up a total of 48 points entering Friday night.
"We're not looking for any type of moral victory," Kelley said. "But you know, you take the positive things out of that. We were able to move the ball on them, but we weren't able to do that great of a job of slowing them down.
The Hornets will look to rebound this week when they return home to finish the regular season with an NCMC matchup against Kirksville. The Tigers (0-8, 0-5 NCMC) tumbled at home to Trenton 33-8 in a non-conference contest Friday night.
"For us, we have to regroup," Kelley said. "I told the kids this week, up to this point this was the most important game that we've played. But after tonight, win or lose, we have some important ballgames left to play."