“We’re playing really well on defense,” Hefner admitted. “We continue to play well up front, we’re tackling well and tonight we had some critical plays in our secondary. The kids just keep playing hard, getting better and gaining confidence.”
The Green Wave’s best offensive possession was their first. They moved from their own 20 to inside the EHS red zone. But on the 10th play of the drive, Connor Simmons picked off a Trier pass at the 14-yard line. Mattoon didn’t cross midfield again until its last possession of the game late in the fourth quarter.
And the offense provided plenty of support on Mattoon’s new turf field. The Hearts ran for 234 yards, cracked the 300-yard plateau for the first in total offense with 306 yards, scored in every quarter and maintained possession for nearly 32 of the 48 total minutes.
“We executed more plays tonight and we finished drives,” Hefner said. “The big thing for us is to get to third and manageable. We did that a lot and it really helps. Plus, we took advantage of our quarterback that can run and we’re getting better at throwing and catching the ball.”
It was total – well, you know – domination.
The Hearts scored what proved to be the only touchdown they would need on their first possession. After the Simmons interception, it was a steady diet of Evan Waymoth and Tanner Pontious on the ground, plus three crucial completions that kept the drive moving.
As was the case all night, EHS converted third down after third down and threw a couple fourth-down quarterback sneaks in there as well.
In that opening drive, Pontious ran for 14 yards on one third down and added a 17-yard scamper on another. He also competed two short passes to Kaden Koeberlein out of the backfield and added a 10-yard strike to Andrew Lotz.
On the 14th play of the drive, Waymoth bolted up the middle from eight yards out to get the Hearts on the scoreboard. EHS had the ball for 6 minutes and 44 seconds.
After a three-and-out by the EHS defense, the offense went to work again, beginning at its own 48. This time, the Hearts covered all 52 yards on the ground. Both Waymoth and Pontious ran for 22 yards on the drive, which was aided by a personal foul penalty on Mattoon.
Pontious dove in from one yard away to complete the 10-play drive that took nearly five minutes. That made it 13-0, which is how it stood at intermission.
The Hearts then put the game away in the third quarter.
An interception by senior defensive back Jack Harper gave Effingham possession at the Green Wave 35 at the 9:09 mark. A 15-yard completion from Pontious to Lotz got the ball inside the 10. Pontious then hooked up with Colton Loy for an 8-yard TD pass that increased the lead to 20-0.
The Hearts followed that with two more scoring drives.
The first was a 10-play possession that started at the Mattoon 47. Caden Walls started it with a nine-yard burst. There was another eight-yard completion to Lotz and then Waymoth bulled his way from one yard out to make it 27-0 with one minute left in the third quarter.
About four minutes later, the Hearts were in the end zone again. Waymoth had a 12-yard run and then it was Weldon Dunston’s turn. After missing the last game with an ankle injury, the sophomore showed he was ready to go. He broke off a 10-yard run, followed by 11 and then the last five to account for the final points of the game.
Waymoth finished with 87 yards on the ground on 25 carries and Pontious added another 63 on 14 rushes. Pontious didn’t throw a lot, but his completion rate was very high, finishing 9-for-12 for 72 yards and a touchdown. Lotz had four of those receptions for 41 yards.
The Green Wave had just 173 total yards and only averaged a little over three yards per play. The passing game accounted for 136 of those yards and 80 came on three early pass completions. Trier was 11-for-29 with two interceptions.
The Hearts are now 2-2 on the season and 2-1 in Apollo Conference play, while Mattoon falls to 1-3 and 1-2.
Effingham will return to Washington Savings Bank Stadium next Friday to face Taylorville in another conference match-up.
