“They’re playing a lot of young kids,” Hefner noted. “They’ve got 26 to 28 sophomores on their roster and many of those are playing. They’re definitely going through some growing pains.”

Offensively, the Tornados are led by sophomore quarterback Baron Odam, the coach’s son, and senior running back Seth Hughes.

“They’ll run a traditional two-back set, run some option, use play action and also throw it quite a bit,” Hefner said. “They’ll run a little bit of everything at you, so we need to be prepared. They might be young, but they’ll be well-coached and they will play physical.”

The Hearts are coming off their most impressive performance of the season, a 34-0 thumping over Mattoon last week on the road. They dominated every phase of the game.

“It was a pretty impressive effort by our kids in all aspects,” Hefner admitted. “There were a couple offensive possessions that didn’t go well, but other than that, we played very well. Our defense didn’t allow a point, our kicking and punting games were outstanding and the offense was very efficient.”

The Hearts cracked the 300-yard plateau for the first time, with 234 of those yards coming on the ground. But Hefner was quick to point out, “you can’t always just look at the stats.

“We only threw for 72 yards, but we completed 9-of-12 passes, and several of those were third down conversions,” he pointed out. “We made big plays that kept drives moving. One of the things I like about this group is that they care about winning and don’t get wrapped up with stats. That’s the sign of a good team.”

Defensively, Effingham was strong once again. They limited the Green Wave to 173 total yards and prevented a team that came in averaging 20 points a game from getting on the scoreboard.

“We have a number of guys back on the defensive side,” Hefner said. “They got a full season as juniors and a full off-season, which meant another year developing in the weight room.”

Even a couple newcomers to the defense have made an impact. Armando Estrada and Jack Harper are both seniors, but inexperienced as cornerbacks. Estrada was an all-conference end a year ago, but has made the transition to the secondary, while Harper is on the football team for the first time.

“Both have improved their coverage and are now knocking balls away from receivers, and Jack had an interception last week,” Hefner noted. “You see the improvements they’ve made in the first four games. How much better will they be the next five?

“Defense is what this program is built on,” the veteran coach added. “We’re not a fun team to play. We’re very physical and I love the effort these kids play with every week.”

The coach wasn’t quite so happy at practice Tuesday afternoon.

“We got a little bit out of our normal routine and the kids didn’t handle it well,” Hefner admitted. “Tuesday and Wednesday are our two main practice days and Tuesday didn’t go well. Let’s just say I had to get their attention.”

It will be Staff Appreciation Night at Jack Klosterman Field when the Hearts look to extend their winning streak and keep playoff hopes alive.

Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.