Hornets survive penalties, Owls for first NCMC victory

Masek throws for three touchdowns, runs for score

A group of Fulton defenders take Marshall sophomore running back Erik Mays to the ground during the Hornets' 26-14 win over the Owls on Friday night, Sept. 16, 2016 in Marshall.
A group of Fulton defenders take Marshall sophomore running back Erik Mays to the ground during the Hornets' 26-14 win over the Owls on Friday night, Sept. 16, 2016 in Marshall.

MARSHALL, Mo. - The Fulton Hornets may not have played their most crisp game, but they performed well enough to come away with a win.

Fulton overcame 15 penalties for 120 yards and the Hornets earned their first North Central Missouri Conference victory of the season with a 26-14 win over the Owls on Friday night. Marshall was also penalized 16 times for 130 yards.

"I told the kids it wasn't the prettiest thing," Fulton head coach Pat Kelley said. "Some of them were sloppy penalties, some of them were aggressive penalties and those you can take.

"It was a messy game on both sides. The effort was there, we just have to clean up some mistakes."

Kelley expected the Hornets to be challenged by the winless Owls on Friday night.

"I told them before the game that this team was going to be desperate," Kelley said. "They were 0-and-4, you give them any kind of hope and it's going to be tough, and it was - it was a dogfight."

Fulton (3-2, 1-1 NCMC) was able to take control of the game early in the fourth quarter. The Hornets were only up 20-14 when they forced Marshall to turn the ball over on downs in Fulton territory. Senior quarterback Devin Masek capitalized two plays later when he connected with junior wide receiver L'Trevion Vaughn down the sideline for a 65-yard touchdown with 10 minutes to play.

Vaughn finished with a game-high 109 yards receiving on four catches.

"I thought that getting up 26-14 took a little wind out of their sails," Kelley said. "Tre hadn't seen a lot of balls tonight, that's just kind of the way it was. But we had him lined up in the mismatch we wanted and he burned him.

"It was a great throw, great catch, great touchdown. That was probably the big play of the game."

Masek accounted for all four of the Hornets' scores. He completed 15-of-24 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns, and also ran for a score.

"He's slippery and he's elusive," Kelley said. "He had some shots, but that was a big one there (in the fourth quarter)."

Kelley was not planning on passing as much because he expected the weather to play a bigger factor Friday night. The Hornets ended up rushing for just 72 yards on 30 carries.

"The field ended up being in much better shape than ours was last week," Kelley said. "Footing was good, so we were able to throw it and they were blitzing every play. It's hard to run the ball when they're sending those guys up there.

"On the other side of the coin, we were able to hold them out in our pass-blocking and we were able to pick up the blitzes to throw the ball."

Fulton jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter. On the Hornets' opening drive, Masek threw a screen pass to sophomore running back Taeon Logan that turned into a 67-yard touchdown with 9:49 left in the period.

Masek then capped off a 10-play, 61-yard drive on Fulton's next possession with a 1-yard touchdown run at the 2:55 mark.

"I felt that we had a chance to put them away early," Kelley said. "We got off to a 14-0 lead, had the ball, had a penalty on a special-teams play that hurt us and it kind of snowballed on us."

In the second quarter, Fulton was called for defensive holding during a Marshall punt on a fourth-and-11. The penalty moved the ball to the Hornets' 34-yard line for a fourth-and-1 and the Owls were able to convert a first down on a 2-yard run by sophomore running back Erik Mays.

Mays followed with a 32-yard touchdown run on the next play and sophomore kicker Romario Monroy knocked through the extra point to bring Marshall within 14-7 with 10:30 to play in the first half.

"We bent, but didn't break," Kelley said. "The 32-yarder was the biggest play they had, so we contained it. They got some chunks, but we kept them out of the end zone, which is good."

Fulton answered with a score just before halftime to extend its lead on Masek's 23-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Alec Fleetwood with 1:15 to go.

The Owls made it 20-14 with 7:41 remaining in the third quarter on senior running back Chase Kateman's 2-yard touchdown run. Kateman topped Marshall with 71 yards rushing on 14 carries and Mays had 68 yards in 13 attempts. The Owls produced 240 yards rushing on 41 carries.

The Hornets return home this week for an NCMC matchup with state-ranked Hannibal (4-1, 3-0). The Pirates - ranked No. 7 in Class 4 - blew out conference foe Kirksville 49-21 in Hannibal on Friday night.

"That's the thing about this conference, eventually it gets harder and harder," Kelley said. "Hannibal is an awful good football team with a good tradition - they're going to come in ready to play.

"We're going to have to come in with our very best football to be competitive."

Ryan Shiner can be reached at (573) 826-2423, or by email at [email protected].