Saturday rewind: Wort, Hornets plow ahead with support of full roster

MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — The challenges brought about by quarantines and cramping and the myriad of other things impacting his players’ availability made Brown County football coach Tom Little excited to see a full roster on the sideline Friday night.

That was bad news for North Greene.

Colby Wort set the tone with his bruising runs between the tackles and the Hornets, ranked third in Class 1A, showcased their versatile arsenal in a 48-0 victory at the Nest.

“Last week, we were kind of all over the place trying to keep our guys healthy and keep them from cramping up and being able to finish a game,” Little said. “Having guys in their correct spots just helped.”

Having Colby Wort available changed the game plan.

The Brown County coaching staff went into the week thinking about utilizing the wingbacks more and the fullback less, but his leg-churning runs opened gashed the middle of the Spartans’ defense and the Hornets kept giving him the ball.

“We were like, ‘We have to keep giving him the rock,’” Little said.

Wort finished with 116 yards and three touchdowns on eight carries as the Hornets churned out 231 yards on the ground and averaged better than 9 yards per carry. Meanwhile, senior quarterback Tate Fullerton completed 3 of 5 passes for 103 yards and all three went for touchdowns.

“The two he missed, the receiver got open and he overthrew them,” Little said. “That’s part of not getting to do that last week and not getting that live action. So it was good to see him connect and get some rhythm. I thought he threw well tonight.”