Fulton head coach Trey Barrow and the Hornets had been waiting eight weeks for this elusive experience.
So how does that first career victory feel?
"It's nice to get that one," Barrow said. "We executed well tonight, but there's still room to grow."
Though it wasn't spotless, Fulton played solidly enough in all three phases to deliver Barrow a coaching milestone. The Hornets started fast and never took their foot off the pedal in cruising to a 48-6 victory over the Missouri Military Academy Colonels in Friday night's regular-season finale at Robert E. Fisher Jr. Stadium.
Fulton (1-8, 19.03 points) finished as the No. 8 seed in Class 3, District 4 and will play at top-seeded Moberly in this week's quarterfinals. The Spartans (6-3, 43.07 points) secured a 34-7 North Central Missouri Conference win at Mexico on Friday night.
The Hornets tumbled to the Spartans in a 55-6 NCMC rout in Moberly on Sept. 14.
"We've built and built this whole season - we're the best we have been so far right now," Barrow said. "We need to have a good week of practice to prepare for that."
Before looking toward any sort of rematch with Moberly, Fulton faced an MMA team that it had put nearly 100 combined points on in two previous victories. After forcing the Colonels (0-9) into a quick three-and-out Friday night, the Hornets took over at their own 37-yard line and quickly worked their way toward the MMA end zone.
Junior wide receiver Zaylin McNeil hauled in a 44-yard pass from junior quarterback Tyler Sayler on Fulton's first play from scrimmage, taking the ball just inside the MMA red zone at the 19.
"We thought on that first play we'd take a shot and saw that they had man-on-man coverage with no safety over the top, much the same way Mexico did," Barrow said. "Teams are going to do that until we can prove we can complete some passes one-on-one."
Two plays later, senior running back Taeon Logan scooted in from 6 yards out for the first of his two rushing touchdowns. With his 77 yards rushing in the first quarter, Logan eclipsed the 1,000-yard barrier for the season.
He finished the night with a game-high 190 yards rushing on just 12 carries.
"It's nice to see him get that. Nobody deserves it more than Taeon," Barrow said. "Nobody worked harder for it than Taeon, and seeing him eclipse that elusive 1,000 yards was pretty nice."
The Hornets' defense chipped in two series later to add to their lead. Two plays after the offense turned the ball over at the Colonels' 11, Fulton junior defensive tackle Emarieon Clark gathered up MMA quarterback Will Baker's fumble and ran it 11 yards for the score with 4:04 left in the first quarter.
"Emarieon loves that," Barrow said. "He's been wanting the ball in our jumbo package, so I'm really happy for him that he got that."
The Hornets' defense struck again two plays later when senior linebacker Garrett Johnson easily picked off Baker and returned it to the MMA 45. Fulton used eight plays and almost the rest of the first-quarter clock to strike again, this time on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Sayler to senior wide receiver Justin Leake to increase the lead to 21-0.
It was the first touchdown of the year for Leake and a welcome development for one of the Hornets' unsung heroes in Barrow's eyes.
"He's a guy that kind of flies under the radar - he's a great reception receiver, a great blocking receiver, he plays safety for us and he's our kicker," Barrow said. "He does everything for us."
Running back Matt Thibodeaux supplied the Colonels' lone score on a 1-yard run with 7:19 left in the second quarter. The Fulton defense was the catalyst for the near-comeback win at Southeast in Kansas City two weeks ago and it proved to be a factor Friday night in giving up just 129 yards of offense.
Senior defensive back Charles Robinson picked off Baker with less than 3 minutes left in the first half and raced 50 yards for the touchdown and a 34-6 advantage.
"He's a guy that was with us all summer, then he wasn't sure he wanted to play," Barrow said. "He came back out with us, had a great attitude, worked hard, and it's great to see him have success, too."
Senior offensive lineman Latrellus Colbert and junior running back AJ Henderson added rushing scores in the second quarter, while Logan supplied his other touchdown run late in the third quarter. As a team, the Hornets averaged a first down per attempt, rushing for 241 yards on 24 carries.
"One of the strengths of our team this year is our O-line and they got after their man and drove them off the ball," Barrow said.
That success is in the rearview mirror now as Fulton enters the "win or go home" phase of the season.
" We need a lot of improvement, but (I) definitely (want the team) to enjoy this feeling because we haven't had it this year," Barrow said. "But we need to treat it the exact same way, like this game didn't happen just like every other game didn't happen."