Midfielder Jake Pierce opened the scoring in the 7th minute by pressuring the outlet pass from the Chillicothe keeper. Pierce went to goal after stealing the ball from the defender and -- in marked contrast to his booming kick in Friday night's football game -- calmly slotted the ball past the onrushing goalie from the top of the penalty area.
The Hornets doubled their lead 5 minutes later on a beautiful diving header from defender Morgan Milligan. The play was set up by an intelligently taken free kick from forward Peter Plakorus. After being fouled in the midfield, Plakorus saw Milligan making a run behind the Chillicothe defense and dropped an accurate ball that Milligan dove to meet with a powerful header past the helpless keeper.
Minutes later the Hornets scored again as Plakorus found the speedy Zach Thomas on a through ball. Coming in on the left of the box, Thomas cut the ball to his favored right foot and fought off the challenge of both defender and keeper to put the Hornets up 3-0.
With the Hornets' back line ably controlling their opponents, Milligan was able to take a more advanced role in the midfield, which soon paid dividends. In the 31st minute Milligan delivered the first of his two assists in the game. A ball into space found midfielder Jakob Hull with a clear path to goal. Hull's powerful shot from the top of the box went over the keeper's outstretched arms and just inches under the bottom of the bar. A similar result came in the 35th minute when Milligan played a ball over the Chillicothe defense into the path of junior Chad Davis. He calmly played the ball over the challenging keeper and then finished his chance with a cursory header to put the Hornets up 5-0.
In the second half, the Hornets completed the scoring with an impressive corner kick in the 61st minute. Plakorus drove a ball to the back post, which Thomas rose (seemingly in violation of the law of gravity) to meet with a decisive header into goal.
While they would continue to torment the visitors the remainder of the half, the Hornets were content to play out the game to earn the victory. Much credit goes to the defense, who made senior goalkeeper Dan McClure's day an easy one. Nick Heimericks, Scott Strough, and Steven Maddox were ably joined by Sam Mayne and Luke Nigus in shutting down the Chillicothe attack.
The solid passing of the defense allowed the Fulton midfield to maintain a very attacking posture. Timely substitutions -- Brian McCarty and Ben Kucera maintained the high level of the starting trio of Pierce, Hull, and Darren Jones -- allowed the Hornets to control possession for the majority of the game.
In the junior varsity game, there was a similar cast of characters as many of the varsity players are doing double duty due to the small squad this year. Joined by freshmen Daniel Lair, Jonathan Perry, and Aaron Arms and sophomore Cody Pae, the team began quickly. Freshman Trevor Neal opened his high school scoring account in the 3rd minute with a thundering volley from a corner kick delivered by Zach Thomas. While the Hornets had several other chances to increase their lead, they failed to connect. On the opposite end, Nick Heimericks kept the clean sheet for the 1-0 victory.
The Hornets will host Montgomery County on Monday at 5:00.
