For a game that was grueling, physical and, at some points, antagonistic, Fulton senior running back Travis Dean sure did have a simple way of summing up his feelings afterward.
"Pretty good," Dean said.
Dean may have felt good, but his performance was - well - great.
The Hornets' workhorse compiled career-highs with 306 yards rushing and five total touchdowns as Fulton remained undefeated by fending off the Marshall Owls 53-35 in a North Central Missouri Conference shootout Friday night at Robert E. Fisher Jr. Stadium.
Dean ground out the bulk of the Hornets' season-high 362 yard on the ground, while grabbing three passes for 33 yards as Fulton improved to 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in the NCMC.
"What can you say about Travis?" Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said. "He got us first downs when we needed them, and not just him. The offensive line did a great job all night ."
The Hornets finally put away an up-to-the-task Marshall team that clawed itself out of an early 26-0 hole with two touchdowns in the final 1 minute, 33 seconds of the first half to only trail by 12 points at the break.
Marshall's awakening came courtesy of some bad Fulton breaks in the half's closing seconds. Hornets senior offensive tackle Zach Benner was ejected from the game following a chippy exchange with an Owls players, with that penalty yardage helping set up the first Marshall score.
Owls senior quarterback Zach Maupin found freshman wide receiver Jaylen Varner alone in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown with 1:33 left in the half.
After a Fulton fumble two plays later, Marshall (1-4, 1-2 NCMC) drove 37 yards in three plays, finishing the possession with Maupin's 21-yard scoring scramble as Marshall continued to close the gap.
"We kind of lost our composure a little bit, didn't do things the way we've been coached to do," Kelley said. "It kind of cost us a little bit. We've got to do better coaching, better playing in situations like that."
The Hornets - who constructed a 12-play, 95-yard drive in the first quarter - started the second half with a methodical 17-play march that ate up the first 6:07 of the third quarter.
Fulton ran the ball 12 times on the possession, picked up two third downs, converted a fourth down and capped it all off on junior quarterback Devin Masek's 1-yard touchdown plunge. That extended the Hornets' lead to 34-14 after the two-point conversion with 5:48 left in the quarter.
"To come out there in the second half ... I think that was the statement of the game right there," Kelley said. "... That drive set the tone right there."
The Owls answered with a seven-play, 64-yard series that ended with senior running back Garrett Clouse's 2-yard touchdown run at the 2:36 mark.
The Hornets then moved just inside Marshall territory, but found themselves in yet another fourth-and-1 in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.
Masek ran to his left on the option and executed the pitch to Dean just before taking a shot from a defender. Dean shook off a shoulder tackle, eluded a few more pursuers and raced 47 yards to the end zone and a 41-21 Fulton lead with 11:21 remaining.
Dean didn't remember too many details about the gain - his fourth score of the night at that time - but Kelley remembered it as the play that put the Hornets in control.
"Devin made a great read - that's part of playing option football - and Travis took the pitch and did the rest," Kelley said. "That, probably, was the beginning of the end of the ballgame right there."
Maupin, again, had a response, hooking up with junior running back Erik Mays twice on a 53-yard drive that took just 2:04. Mays hauled in a 52-yard bomb from Maupin to set up first-and-goal at the Fulton 3. After the Owls were flagged for a hold on third down, Mays snagged a 12-yard touchdown toss from Maupin with 9:10 to go.
Dean used the 14th of his 17 second-half carries for his final touchdown, a 24-yard sprint to stretch Fulton's advantage to 47-28 with 6:16 left.
Kelley commended Dean for taking on the load over the final 24 minutes after racking up 171 yards on 15 first-half runs.
"He was tired and gassed (at halftime), and we got some fluids in him and I just told him in the second half, "I've got to have you, I've got to have you run tough,' and he did," Kelley said. "He came back out and we put some drives together. ... He had a heck of a game."
Maupin hit Mays for a 2-yard touchdown pass to close out Marshall's scoring with 2:26 left. Maupin had his way with a Fulton defense geared up to stop the Owls power-running attack. He ran 10 times and supplied 65 of Marshall's 75 yards rushing, while connecting on 16-of-29 passes for 212 yards.
Sophomore running back Ammod Davis scored from 2 yards out for the Hornets' final touchdown as the offense produced points on each of its four second-half possessions.
Dean scored on runs of 61 and 11 yards, respectively, in the first half and hauled in a 2-yard touchdown pass from Masek in the second half. Senior wide receiver Radarion Glover got in on the offense with an 8-yard touchdown run on a reverse in the first quarter's closing seconds.
Masek completed 12-of-24 passes for 129 yards, while Glover led Fulton with 61 yards receiving on seven catches.
Fulton now shifts its focus to an NCMC road showdown this week at the state-ranked Hannibal Pirates. Hannibal (5-0, 3-0) - ranked No. 9 in Class 4 - crushed Kirksville 76-0 on Friday night.
The Hornets are looking for their first 6-0 start since 2007. The team they beat to reach that plateau - the Hannibal Pirates.
"It's another stepping-stone for us in a place that we haven't won at in a long, long, long time as long as I've been here," Kelley said. "It's a tough place to play. ... They're an awful good ball club."