The Fulton Hornets and Southern Boone Eagles put on a wild fourth-quarter show for fans in Friday night's Class 3, District 6 semifinal battle.
Junior quarterback Devin Masek rallied No. 2 seed Fulton from a 36-33 deficit entering the final 12 minutes as the Hornets finally gained control late in the game to emerge with a captivating 61-48 triumph over No. 6 Southern Boone at Robert E. Fisher Jr. Stadium.
Masek's 15-yard touchdown pass to senior Radarion Glover with 4 minutes, 15 seconds to play put Fulton (9-2) in front to stay. Masek then allowed the Hornets to exhale when he scored on a 5-yard run with 1:39 left.
Masek completed 23-of-33 passes for 405 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. With dynamic senior running back Travis Dean done for the season with a torn ACL, Masek also topped Fulton by gaining 123 yards and scoring twice on the ground.
Glover was a dependable target for Masek, coming up with eight catches for 212 yards and three touchdowns.
"Devin stepped up," Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said. "Anybody who's played that position knows that there's extra pressure.
"I'm just proud of the way he performed. Between he and Radarion there in the first quarter, they kind of took us on their shoulders and kept us in the ballgame."
The Hornets turned to a trick play at the outset of the fourth quarter to kick-start their comeback. Masek flipped the ball to sophomore running back Cameron Vaughn, who launched a halfback pass to junior wide receiver Alec Fleetwood in the corner of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown with 11:54 to go in the game to put Fulton in front at 41-36.
"We called it earlier in the game and misread it," Kelley said. "We knew it was going to be there and what was going on; it was a great call by coach (offensive coordinator Darren) Masek. He put the play in earlier in the week and it worked like we drew it up."
The back-and-forth exchange continued. Southern Boone (6-5) needed less than a minute to go back in front when junior quarterback Spencer Taggart hit junior wide receiver Colin Vaughan on a 71-yard touchdown pass at the 10:56 mark.
Masek then countered by connecting with Fleetwood for a 6-yard score as the Hornets regained the lead at 47-42 with 7:50 remaining. Taggart then gave the Eagles their final advantage when he found Vaughan again for a 43-yard touchdown pass with 5:38 to play.
At that point, Masek steered Fulton's comeback down the stretch.
"It's a flash and a blur going back-and-forth, back-and-forth," Kelley said. "We were fortunately able to get enough stops and turnnovers to be able to go up two (scores)."
The Hornets had to scramble back from a two-score deficit early in the game. Southern Boone broke on top when senior running back Laron Wallace scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 8:40 left in the first quarter. The Eagles then made it 12-0 on senior quarterback Dane Bossert's 80-yard touchdown strike to senior wide receiver Grant Anderson at the 7:41 mark.
Fulton tallied its first points when Masek delivered an 11-yard touchdown pass to Glover with 5:50 remaining in the quarter, but Southern Boone went up 20-7 when Anderson grabbed a Taggart pass for an 8-yard score with 1:28 to go.
The Hornets stormed back by scoring 20 unanswered points in the second quarter to carry the lead into halftime. Senior linebacker Kobe Kaminski intercepted a Bossert pass and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown with 3:06 left to send Fulton into the break with a 27-20 edge.
"We were calm about it; I gathered them over to the side and told them 10 weeks ago at the end of the first quarter, we were down two scores to Osage," Kelley said. "I said it's the same deal, and we're a better ballclub. Just get them back one at a time, we'll try to get a stop."
Masek extended the Hornets' advantage when he darted 76 yards for a touchdown at the 10:05 mark of the third quarter. Southern Boone closed within 33-28 after junior fullback Tanner Smith scored from 5 yards out with 7:37 to play in the quarter.
Wallace then supplied a 16-yard touchdown run and added the two-point conversion at the 4:03 mark to give the Eagles their 36-33 advantage.
Fulton now heads to Blair Oaks next Friday night to square off against the top-seeded, second-ranked Falcons (11-0) for the District 6 championship. Blair Oaks set up the title clash by demolishing No. 5 seed Eldon 58-6 at home in Friday night's other semifinal.
Kelley knows that the Hornets will have to clean up a pass defense that surrendered 293 yards and four touchdowns Friday night.
"Obviously, we have some pass coverages we have to work on," Kelley said. "It was one of things where both teams were going back and forth and they were able to get some things down the seams, and those are things that we'll have to look at and try to fix by the time we get to Blair Oaks."