Opportunistic Fulton defense steps up to beat Forreston

FULTON – When Fulton needed to step up deep inside its own territory and stop Forreston, the Steamers did on three big occasions in the first half Friday night in the teams’ season opener at Steamer Field.

With a pair of fumble recoveries within 10 yards of the end zone and an interception late in the second quarter also in their own territory, the Steamers denied the Cardinals a dent on the scoreboard in the first half, and their offense took advantage of the Cardinal miscues in a 28-0 win in Northwest Upstate Illini action.

Fulton stopped the Cardinals with recoveries at the Steamer 6 early in the second quarter and at the 10 with two minutes left in the half. Senior linebacker Skylier Crooks scooped up the first after a strip by senior lineman Jacob Huisenga, and junior defensive back Braedon Meyers came up with the other on a strip of his own.

Crooks had another key play on defense with an interception of Cardinals junior quarterback Brady Gill at the Steamer 35 with 23 seconds left in the half.

“I’m not a type of dude who can get an interception, but I just saw the ball come my way,” Crooks said. “It feels good making statements.”

Fulton led 12-0 at halftime. Steamers senior quarterback Dom Kramer put his team up 6-0 with eight seconds left in the first quarter after a 15-yard run through several holes in the Cardinal defense, weaving left to right to left. Taking advantage of Meyers’ fumble recovery, the Steamers scored again with 6:47 to play in the opening half. Kramer heaved a pass to junior wide receiver Landen Leu for a 35-yard touchdown completion and a two-score lead.

With Crooks’ pick giving the Steamers momentum into halftime, Meyers extended it further in the second-half kickoff. He returned the ball 80 yards for the Steamers’ third score of the game, green grass all around him for the final 60, for a 20-0 lead.

“I couldn’t have done it without my wedges,” Meyers said. “Josiah [Heald] was there. Skylier was there. It was awesome. I just saw that hole and just took off. The scoreboard really says something. We all worked very hard in practice this week and were just ready for everything that they had.”

Forreston averaged just 3.5 yards per carry in the first half and didn’t muster much else the rest of the game. The Cardinals lost their season opener for only the second time since 2009.

“We got beat in every aspect,” Cardinals coach Keynon Janicke said. “Offensively, we got the ball toward the end zone and put the ball on the ground. Defensively, we didn’t follow all of our rules and assignments and got beat on those plays. On special teams, if you’re going to give up touchdowns, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Fulton senior lineman Heald had two tackles for loss for the Steamers in the first half, and junior linebacker Mason Kuebel added two of his own in the second half. Fulton held Forreston’s quartet of backs – seniors Coehen Kirchner, Evan Boettner and Dane Setterstrom, and sophomore Mickey Probst – to mostly short gains. A 19-yard run by Kirchner in the first quarter was the Cardinals’ largest run.

“It’s a great feeling shutting them out,” Heald said. “They were real good last year, and we came out here and we played our butts off. As a team, we all did our jobs. We just had to play physical and had to get to our blocks. When we get to our blocks, all our plays are made.”

Fulton will look to continue its winning ways next week when it travels to defending Class 1A runner-up Lena-Winslow, a 32-6 winner over Morrison on Friday. Forreston will look to rebound next week at home against Dakota, which opens its season Saturday at Dwight.

“Fulton’s very well-coached,” Janicke said. “They’re physical, they’re aggressive and fast, and I think they’re going to be very dangerous this year. I hope we get another shot at them, but it just didn’t go our way today. Sometimes you line up and just lose, and there’s a team that just plays and executes better than you, but that doesn’t mean that one loss dictates the rest of the season.”