Effingham’s next possession lasted nine plays and reached their own 40 before another fourth down call turned the ball back over to St. Teresa.

“That’s my fault,” Hefner admitted. “Fourth and five was probably too much. I probably should have punted there.”

This time, the Bulldogs weren’t denied. A 15-yard horse collar penalty helped and then on fourth down, quarterback Joe Brummer found Brycen Hendrix in the corner of the end zone for an 18-yard scoring strike, extending the lead to 12-0 with 1:47 remaining in the half.

Toward the end of the first half, the Hearts appeared to be gaining a little momentum on offense. Westendorf, who had 59 yards on the ground in the opening two quarters, racked up 51 of those in the second quarter. It appeared as if the EHS line was wearing the Decatur school down a bit.

The Hearts started playing at a quicker pace and it was working. Westendorf’s 33-yard gallop was the only time EHS crossed the midfield stripe in the first half. But on the final play of the half, a deep Pontious pass was deflected and intercepted.

Whatever momentum was gained by that was quickly eliminated in the opening seconds of the third quarter. After a delay of game penalty on the very first play set the Bulldogs back to their own 15, it took just 34 seconds to reach the end zone.

On consecutive pass plays, Brummer hooked up with Jeremy Walker – first for a 36-year strike down the middle of the field and then a 49-yard bomb to Walker as he streaked down the far sideline. That made it 18-0 and the St. Teresa defense took care of the rest.

After gaining 118 yards in the opening half, the Hearts were limited to just 36 the final two quarters. Pontious was sacked four times in the second half, and as a result, EHS had 1 yard rushing. He completed 6-of-8 passes for 35 yards, but the Hearts had just three first downs in the last 16 minutes.

Their most promising drive came late in the third quarter. Dunston had back-to-back runs of 12 and 10 yards to get the ball to the St. Teresa 33. But an incomplete pass on third down and another sack on fourth down ended that possession.

“I thought we had a little momentum in that second quarter and they might have been getting a little tired,” Hefner said. “But we still didn’t finish any drives. At some point, you have to make plays. We don’t have that kind of offense that can overcome a lot of penalties or busts on protection. But those are things we’re going to work on.

“Defensively, I was real pleased,” the veteran coach added. “I thought we were better prepared for what they threw at us this year. It went about like I thought it would. I saw a lot of good things out there from our defense.”

The Hearts finished with 99 yards on the ground and 55 through the air. Westendorf had 59 yards rushing in the first half, but a leg injury kept him out for the second half. Pontious finished 10-of-19 for 55 yards.

St. Teresa had 300 total yards, with 131 on the ground and 169 in the air. Brummer was 14-of-20 for 169 yards. Walker had three catches for 93 yards and Harper was their leading rusher with 69 yards.

The Hearts schedule doesn’t get any easier. They will open Apollo Conference play on the road next Friday, traveling to Mahomet-Seymour. The Bulldogs kicked off their season with a 51-14 win over Morton.

Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.