Hornets Win in Kirksville in Shortened Game

It was a dark and stormy night in Kirksville. Fortunately for the Hornets, they were already headed back to Fulton with a 1-0 victory in hand.

In a game called in the 48th minute due to lightning, the Hornets finally put together a game that matched their play on the field to the scoreboard. In the first half, the Hornets had the better of play and were able to create numerous chances against a defense that made liberal use of an offside trap. Junior Darren Jones demonstrated early that he was a threat to score. Jones struck a stinging volley from 13 yards out but the keeper was able to parry it away. While he was not alone in testing the keeper, his contributions eventually paid dividends. In the 25th minute, Morgan Milligan picked up a loose ball deep in the Fulton half. Carrying the ball into the midfield, he was able to find Jones with a centering ball that Jones brought down to split the defenders. He dribbled with pace into the box and was able to calmly pass the ball into the right-hand side of the goal past the keeper. Moments latter a similar chance to double the lead went awry when the keeper anticipated Jones' side-footed shot to snuff out the danger.

On the opposite end, the defense proved up to the task of containing the Kirksville offense. Defenders Morgan Milligan, Steven Maddox, Sam Mayne, Scott Strough, and Nick Heimericks did a good job of limiting the dangers to Dan Mcclure's goal. It should also be said that the outside midfielders also did a good job of coming back to help out with the assymetrical offense employed by the Tigers that flooded one side of the field with multiple players.

In the second half, Kirksville came out gunning with their best chance coming off a volley from the top of the box that barely went wide of the post. Unfortunately for Kirksville, this rally was abruptly ended with the first flash of the lightning. With the radar showing dangerous storms approaching, the decision was made to call the game. As the game was in the second half, per MSHSAA rules, it counts as a full game.

Sadly for the junior varsity players, their game was not played. They did, however, get their first taste of Pagliai's Pizza, home of the mighty tasty Ronza.

Fulton (5-4) will host Hannibal on Thursday at Westminster College. The varsity match will start at 6:00, with junior varsity to follow.