Fulton football fought for victory against Moberly, forcing turnovers early in the game and making some flashy plays on offense but the Spartans stopped the Hornets when it mattered most.
When it was all said and done, Moberly beat Fulton 28-14 Friday in Fulton.
While the Spartans won by 14, it was a 7-point game for the majority of the fourth quarter. And the Hornets had the perfect opportunity to tie the game up in the middle of the final quarter.
That excellent chance to bring the game even occurred after the most impressive play of the game for either side. With the ball at Moberly's 36-yard line, Walker Gohring threw a 31-yard bomb to Gabe DeFily with four Spartans defenders on the Fulton receiver.
"Heckuva play, heckuva throw," Fulton coach Dana Chambers said. "To trust your guy to go up and catch it. And heckuva play by Gabe DeFily to make that catch. You know he's an athlete. He's a big-time kid and big-time players make big-time plays"
The completion put the Hornets five yards away from the endzone. Fulton made it third-and-goal from Moberly's 1-yard line after a four-yard run.
On third down, Gohring threw an incomplete pass intended for Zach Jones. Then, on the most critical play of the game, the Spartans defense tackled Gohring for a 3-yard loss and gained possession of the football.
"That kind of took some wind out of us," Chambers said. "Got the ball down in the goal line, especially on the one you got to be able to punch it in. And for whatever reason, we didn't execute. Make sure you know if we come into that situation again, we're better prepared. That's on me as a coach to make sure we're prepared for all situations. And that'll happen."
Moberly sealed the deal by going on a 14-play drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Collin Huffman. Following the extra point, the Spartans were up 28-14 with 37 seconds left which all but decided the game.
In the first quarter, the Hornets' defense did their job by swarming Moberly's offense, notching three sacks and forcing two turnovers -- one fumble and one interception.
"We came out and played really well," Chambers said.
The interception was the most key turnover as the Spartans were at Fulton's 39-yard line and could have made it a two-drive game. Instead, the Hornets took the ball over with Moberly up 7-0 late in the first quarter.
Unfortunately for Fulton, the Hornets gave the ball right back to the Spartans after they forced a fumble on the first play of the drive. Even though Moberly was 28 yards from scoring to start the drive, Fulton's defense kept them from scoring.
Neither team scored in their ensuing drives. But following the Spartans' second consecutive scoreless drive, the Hornets put some points on the board.
Leading up to Fulton's first touchdown, DeFily hurled a deep, 31-yard pass to Rowdy Gohring and put the Hornets into the red zone at Moberly's 20.
Following a 1-yard run, DeFily completed a 13-yard pass and put Fulton six yards away from scoring. They did just that on the next play.
Tyreion Logan took it to the house and after the extra point, it was a 7-7 game with 2:00 left in the first half.
"I feel like we got going," Chambers said. "We found our stride. We made some positive plays and we got things moving. Good things happen, when we're doing things right."
Moberly would respond before halftime, going on a three-play, 49-second scoring drive. For the touchdown, Huffman completed a screen pass to Derieus Wallace for a 24-yard touchdown -- Wallace's second scoring play in the first half.
In the second half, Huffman notched his second scoring play (finished with three touchdowns) of the game on a 1-yard run and put the Spartans up 21-7 after the extra point, with 6:20 left in the third quarter.
The Hornets responded on their next possession, going on an eight-play scoring drive that ended on a Logan 1-yard touchdown run. En route to scoring, Gohring completed 5-of-6 passes for 66 yards.
"Coach (Jantzen) Bradford does a heckuva job getting our offense prepared," Chambers said. "Our guys executed."
From there, neither team scored any points before Moberly finished the game off on the aforementioned Huffman touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
It wasn't the result Fulton wanted, but the team stayed resilient and made plays on both sides that kept them in it for nearly the entire game.
"I'm proud of my boys," Chambers said. "They played hard. They fought -- that's what we talked about to execute. That's something that we talked about every day -- is out-executing our opponent. Tonight, we didn't do that. That's why they were ahead, Moberly is a good team; they played well."
Next up, Fulton (0-5) will play Highway 54 rival Mexico (2-3) at 7 p.m. Friday in Mexico, Missouri.