Marshall senior Mike Klinge (78) clamps down on the Hornets' Antawan Ferguson. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The Hornets' ability to kick an extra point made the difference Friday in a 35-34 NCMC victory over visiting Marshall. While senior Jeremy Lane may not compared equally to the Gogolak brothers who popularized soccer-style placekicking in the NFL, his conversion ended the second overtime period with a Fulton win.

Meanwhile, the Owls were relying on two-point attempts, which head coach Paul Thomas had said earlier in the week was a possibility. After making both tries during regulation time, Marshall missed both efforts during the extra period -- the first of which would have provided an instant win after tying the contest at 28-all.

Lest the Owls unfairly seek a single scapegoat for the loss, however, the onus rested even more squarely on a defense which was utterly incapable of stopping Fulton down the stretch. Marshall was unable to hold on to two fourth-quarter leads, as well as the edge in the second OT period.

The late-game fireworks were in stark contrast to the previous three frames. After the Hornets scored on junior Antawan Ferguson's 7-yard run five minutes into the game, their offense was blanked for over 36 minutes.

Junior Matt Jacobs' runs of 20 and 24 yards, the latter following a personal foul which created second down and goal at the Fulton 26-yard line, senior Marty Kays plunged in from a yard out. The Owls missed the extra-point kick, but gained the lead when Kays' 17-yard dash capped a 10-play, 54-yard drive midway through the third quarter.

Marshall stopped the Hornets at its 11-yard line when senior Cody Hodges dropped senior Jon Sidney for a 3-yard loss on fourth down, but was unable to get out of the hole after losing 9 yards on a rare Jacobs fumble.

The punt snap went through the up-stretched arms of junior Lucas Hart, who wisely fell on the ball in the end zone for a safety rather than risk giving Fulton good field position for possibly six points. But the Hornets made the visitors pay anyway with their own 10-play, 54-yard series, senior Darren Jacobs scoring on a 7-yard run for a 15-14 lead with 6:45 left in the fourth period.

The Owls appeared stalled on their next possession, until Kays threw a third-and-12 bullet to junior Matt Buford streaking down the right sideline -- the 37-yard completion the longest of the season. A 14-yard Kays bootleg set up Matt Jacobs' 4-yard touchdown run.

Jacobs also ran in Marshall's second straight conversion to make it 22-15 with 2:58 remaining, but Fulton charged back on Lane's 31-yard pass to Ferguson and 14-yard toss to senior Mike Davis. On third and goal, Lane sneaked over from the 1-yard line and then kicked the game-tying extra point.

Sidney's 6-yard run in the first OT put the Hornets ahead, but Lane missed his boot. Six runs by Jacobs covered the 25 yards for Marshall, but he was held out of the end zone and the game continued.

The Owls faced fourth down and 13 yards to go in the second extra period, but Kays fired on the run to Hodges, who came back and snagged the floater at the Fulton 9 for a fresh start. Jacobs went in from 8 yards out, but again was stopped on the two-point try.

Five Sidney runs set the Hornets (4-2, 2-2 NCMC) up at the Marshall 1, from where Lane snuck in to even the contest -- breaking the deadlock finally with his drive through the uprights.

It was a disappointing outcome for the Owls, who had not been involved in an overtime contest since beating Hannibal, 34-28, in two extra frames on Sept. 13, 2002 -- ending a 24-year drought against the Pirates. On the other hand, it was encouraging that a young Marshall team showed it could overcome adversity, even if it couldn't prevent it from happening.

Jacobs finished with 169 rushing yards on 36 carries and is proving to be a reliable power back for the Owls (1-5, 1-2). He is currently averaging more than 26 attempts per game, one more than Missouri recruit Charles Quint logged while setting the school records of 333 runs for 2,190 yards during Marshall's state championship 1986 campaign.

The Owls will be back home Friday for the "Football in Pink" fundraiser against state-ranked defending NCMC champion Moberly, which suffered its first loss of the season, 41-14, to Hannibal.