Pirates demolish Hornets

No. 9 Hannibal rushes for 471 yards, hands Fulton first loss

HANNIBAL - By the time the Fulton Hornets found their footing, the unbeaten, state-ranked Hannibal Pirates had already left them in the dust.

Fulton's run defense was flattened by a potent Hannibal rushing attack, yielding a season-high 471 yards on 48 carries (9.8 average) as the Hornets were roughed up in a resounding 62-13 loss to the Pirates in North Central Missouri Conference play Friday night.

The loss was the first of the season for Fulton (5-1, 2-1 NCMC), which was looking for its first 6-0 start since 2007. That was also the last time the Hornets defeated Hannibal.

The Pirates (6-0, 4-0) - ranked No. 9 in Class 4 - needed just 16 seconds to tally their initial score. On Hannibal's first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Jerry McBride kept the ball on the option, slipped around the right side of his offensive line and sprinted 61 yards for a touchdown.

"You look at the first play and, unfortunately, it was indicative of the rest of that first half," Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said. "We showed signs at times of coming alive, we had some chances. We talked about how we needed to move the chains and keep the ball away from them."

Fulton punted from near midfield on its first possession, then forced the Pirates' only punt of the game. The Hornets went three-and-out, but seemed to catch a break when they recovered Hannibal junior running back Shamar Griffith's fumble at the Fulton 37-yard line.

A false start to begin the drive put the Hornets behind schedule and they ended up punting on fourth-and-8 from the 35.

"We made a great hustle play on (Griffith), stripping the ball and recovering the ball and you thought, "Okay, here we go,' but then you can't convert a third down," Kelley said. "Those things are frustrating. It was a frustrating night."

Griffith atoned for the fumble and carried all three times on the Pirates' following series. He picked up 46 yards to open the drive, then scooted into the end zone from 12 yards out two plays later to make it 14-0 with 3:38 left in the quarter.

Fulton drove to its own 46 on its next possession, before senior cornerback Colten Brummell abruptly ended the drive with an interception of junior quarterback Devin Masek.

A play later, Brummell got in on the scoring when he pulled in a 60-yard strike from McBride to extend Hannibal's lead with 1:18 to play in the first quarter.

Fulton, again, went three-and-out and the Pirates responded with a quick score early in the second quarter. Griffith gained 58 of the drive's 65 yards, capping it off with a 37-yard touchdown run and a 28-0 Hannibal lead with 10:45 remaining in the half.

The Hornets followed with a nine-play, 77-yard drive in what was the offense's best work of the night to that point. Masek kept things going by picking up 4 yards on a third-and-1 from his own 21, then hit senior wide receiver Radarion Glover for 9yards on the next play.

Senior running back Travis Dean - fresh off a career-best effort last week against Marshall - had his biggest run of the night on a 54-yard sprint to the Pirates' 12. Fulton picked up 1 yard over the next three plays before Griffith picked off a Masek throw in the end zone and returned it to his own 13.

McBride finished off Hannibal's longest scoring drive of the night - 87 yards in seven plays - with an 18-yard touchdown run on the option keeper with 5:29 left in the quarter. McBride compiled 208 total yards, rushing for 105 yards on six carries and connecting on 2-of-4 passes for 103 yards.

The Pirates recovered a fumble on the first snap of the Hornets' next series and Griffith cashed in two plays later with a 30-yard touchdown run to stretch Hannibal's advantage to 42-0 with 4:21 to go. It was Griffith's last touch of the night as he finished with a game-high 184 yards on 10 carries.

"He got past first level and he was gone," Kelley said. "We seemed like we bottled him up a bit a few times on the first level, but once he got past that, we didn't have an answer for him. ... He out-athleted us on a lot of those runs."

Junior Eric Jones and sophomore Billy Smashey scored on respective runs of 45 and 2 yards to send Hannibal into halftime with an imposing 56-0 lead.

Dean finally got the Hornets on the scoreboard with a 49-yard touchdown run off an option pitch with 9:46 left in the third quarter. Junior Jordan Kinsel finished the Pirates' scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Fulton senior wide receiver De'Areyon Estes scored on an 81-yard catch-and run off a screen pass from sophomore quarterback Tucker Caswell with 1:50 remaining in the game.

Dean paced the Hornets with 145 yards on 13 carries, eclipsing the 1,000-yard barrier for a second straight season. Estes had two catches for 88 yards, while Masek was 9-of-22 passing for just 48 yards.

Fulton finished with 322 yards of total offense.

"I told the kids it's a night we can't get back," Kelley said. "We've got 12 more quarters of regular season and we have to go out and play hard."

The Hornets continue NCMC play when they play the Boonville Pirates for homecoming this week. Boonville (2-4, 1-2 NCMC) squeaked past Kirksville 17-15 on Friday night.

•Notes: Fulton fell from atop the Class 3, District 6 standings with Friday night's loss. The Hornets (47 points) trail Blair Oaks (51) and are eight points ahead of third-place California (39). Southern Boone is fourth (35.33), Owensville fifth (35.16), Eldon sixth (31), Boonville seventh (28.5), and Versailles eighth (20.67).