FULTON, Mo. - Fulton coach Pat Kelley hopes he continues to get stellar play from the Hornets' defense as they head into their conference opener.
Fulton starts North Central Missouri Conference play tonight when it hosts the Moberly Spartans at Robert E. Fisher Jr. Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
"It's a different animal once you get into the conference schedule; I like what our defense has been doing," Kelley said during Tuesday afternoon's practice. "We played well and we need to continue to play well. I think the NCMC is such a good conference. These are the guys you see every year and you see them almost year-round.
"Our dual-sport athletes are going to see them on the wrestling mats, basketball courts, baseball diamond - it's like that old saying, 'Familiarity breeds contempt.' I think with just being familiar with who you are playing kind of gets the ante up a little bit higher."
Fulton (2-1) is coming off its second straight win last week, 29-22 against Father Tolton in Columbia. The Hornets' defense forced eight turnovers to bring its season total to 16.
"The turnovers come, it's nothing we go out and say, 'We're going to plan this turnover or that turnover," Kelley said. "It's just kind of a byproduct of an aggressive defense that we play and we hope that continues."
Kelley likes how Fulton's defense players are becoming more acclimated to the 3-3 stack.
"As we get more comfortable in the system, you can see the kids performing a little bit better," Kelley said. "(Senior linebacker) Will Dunn had his best game of the year by far last week. (Senior linebacker) Luke Berrey continues to play better. (Senior linebacker) Luke Gray had a really good game on defense.
"I think we found his niche in this defense. On defensive line, we were able to roll guys in and continue to do that, and as we do that, we hope we can get better and better."
Kelley indicated Moberly's offense hasn't changed much during the past few years. The Spartans (1-2) - who dropped their NCMC opener at home to Kirksville 13-7 in overtime last week - run their offense out of the pistol set.
"They do a lot of the same things we do in the zone read and they'll run the jet sweep," Kelley said. "They have a lot more play-action than we do and they've thrown the ball a lot this year."
Kelley expects the Hornets' secondary to be tested by Moberly senior quarterback Drake Davidson (6-foot-2, 195 pounds).
"Their quarterback is not as athletic as far as a runner goes in the past few weeks, but he is probably the best passer we will face this year," Kelley said. "He's got good receivers and probably the best running back that we've seen with No. 28 (5-10, 185-pound senior Drake Gross). He runs very hard, he has both speed and power."
Kelley also noted senior wide receiver Ryan Boulware (5-6, 135) could be a threat in the Spartans' passing game.
"He's really quick and fast," Kelley said. "With Moberly, you have to be ready for the run and you have to be ready for the pass. It comes back to what we always say, it's an 11-man defense and you have to have all 11 guys doing their job."
The Hornets are looking to open up their running game even more tonight. Fulton gained a deceptive 216 yards rushing against Tolton.
"We got back Friday night and we're sitting around, and I was complaining that we couldn't rush the ball," Kelley said. "It didn't seem like we ran the ball very well and then we do our stats Saturday morning and we rushed for over 200 yards and it's like, 'Well, I guess we did run the ball."
Senior quarterback Devin Masek paced the Hornets with 76 yards rushing and a touchdown on 13 carries last week. Junior running back Ammod Davis picked up 73 yards and a touchdown in 27 attempts and sophomore running back Taeon Logan had 67 yards on 11 carries.
"We didn't run it consistently and didn't run well at times where we needed to get first downs. We have to be more consistent in all phases," Kelley said. "We felt like we let some chances get away to put Tolton away early last week.
"We just need to be more consistent, a little more crisp in what we're doing on offense and that will come."
Kelley said Fulton's offensive line has been improving each week.
"I think the defensive line they saw last week is probably the largest they may see all year. Those guys were huge, we didn't get a lot of movement, but we got enough to get some good runs in," Kelley said. "We kept the chains moving at times and other times we didn't.
"If we just get more consistent with that, I'll be happy."
Kelley isn't sure what to expect from Moberly's defense tonight.
"To be honest, each week we've planned to see a certain defense and we haven't seen it yet," Kelley said. "Teams for the most part are playing defense to stop our pass and dare us to run. We haven't been able to take advantage of that the way we'd like to.
"So, I expect to see a 4-3 (alignment), maybe a 4-4, but we'll see when Friday gets here."
The Hornets are looking to protect an eight-game home winning streak. Kelley indicated that - among many reasons - should have his players excited to square off against the Spartans.
"There's a lot of things to get you jacked up about this game," Kelley said. "It's our first conference game, it's Moberly, it's Homecoming and we're back at home again. All of those things play in getting momentum."
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