Head coach Dana Chambers never wants to go through what Fulton went through the previous week.
On Sept. 8, Fulton had to cancel its Week 3 home game against Richmond because some of its players tested postive for COVID-19. Now the Hornets are back at full strength, Chambers said the team is rested and ready to travel today to Hannibal.
While the whole team didn't have to quarantine, he said the offensive and defensive lines had to, which are crucial areas. When the rest of team was able to sharpen fundamentals in practice and meet to scout Hannibal, Chambers said information would be shared through online resources, like Google Meet, with the quarantined players so they would be mentally up-to-speed before becoming physically up-to-speed starting at practice Tuesday.
With everyone able to practice, Chambers said everything went back to normal, and he really hopes the team can learn from this experience and keep it that way.
"Not having my full team with me (last week) at practice, it didn't kinda suck. It really sucked," Chambers said. "I'm glad I have all my kids back, and they're all healthy. Hopefully, we learn from this so we don't have that happen again."
Fulton was phased out of Friday's fun last week, but Chambers said it wasn't all bad as its Week 2 game at California was a pretty physical game and required the Hornets to play more than 190 snaps altogether. Having time to rest has allowed the team to recharge and be ready against another team that has overpowered its opponents.
Hannibal has scored 54, 40 and 56 points in its first three weeks against reigning Class 4 state champion Helias, Jefferson City and Fort Zumwalt West, respectively, running the ball commandingly while also scoring points in bunches.
Across the board, the Pirates are a strong team, but Chambers said their biggest threats are Aneyas Williams - who Chambers considers Hannibal's "most dangerous offensive weapon" after having 349 total yards and a school-record six touchdowns in Week 3 - and Aj Thomas. Both can are able to run right at defensive lines in a two-back set behind an offensive line that can "hit you in the mouth" and show off their speed on the perimeter.
The Hornets can make their best effort in preventing this offense to score too often by doing what Hannibal's defense and other good defenses do so well: maintain good fundamentals. Against California, Chambers said Fulton didn't tackle, block, cover, run routes, catch or throw the ball well. While this sounds like a laundry list of things to fix, Chambers said it shouldn't feel overwhelming because Fulton works on these things everyday.
"When you think about, it's what we work every day anyway," he said. "The fact that we struggled with these things the last time we played is not that great, but you have to continue to work on your fundamentals. If you're not a fundamental football team, then you're not going to win very many games."
Fulton's offense also needs to stay in control and not try to quickly match Hannibal score for score. Hannibal's defense does do the little thing really well - like fit into gaps, aligning correctly and not missing assignments - but opposing offenses have gotten into deeper trouble by forcing the ball down the field, as Fulton did twice when facing California two weeks ago. Chambers said he knows Fulton is capable of running a good offense so it's important in a game like this to avoid turnovers.
With COVID in the rearview mirror, hopefully for good, the Hornets are recharged and raring to go tonight in Hannibal.
"When we hit the field (Tuesday), we came back like we didn't really miss anything," Chambers said. "Everyone came and got to work, and they were hungry and out there ready to go."