The Hearts responded with a five-play scoring drive, culminating with a 51-yard pass from Tanner Pontious to Andrew Lotz, who was running all alone behind the Highland secondary. It was the first of three Pontious-to-Lotz TD passes in the game.

The Bulldogs offense was difficult to stop all night. They racked up 492 total yards and didn’t have to punt the entire game. In fact, they scored the first four times they got the ball, putting together drives of 8, 2, 7 and 10 plays.

Wuebbels added a six-yard scoring run and threw a 12-yard TD strike to Brenden Gelley for Highland’s other two scores in the opening half. Highland amassed 331 yards total yards in the first 24 minutes alone.

“They are very good offensively,” EHS coach Brett Hefner admitted. “But the frustrating thing is some of the same stuff is hurting us, especially the screen plays. We’ve struggled with those all year. We just don’t recognize it. Things like that we have to handle better.”

The Hearts got right back in the game before the half was over. They put together an impressive 10-play drive that took four minutes off the clock. Pontious connected with Garrett Wolfe for a 10-yard, fourth-down completion that kept the drive alive and then hit Lotz with a 42-yard pass to reach the endzone.

At intermission, Effingham trailed 28-14.

“One thing about these kids is they will always compete,” Hefner said. “I was pleased with how we were able to maintain possession of the ball and keep drives alive. A couple plays here and there and the outcome might have been different.”

One of those plays occurred early in the second quarter. Trailing 21-7, EHS had driven the ball deep into Highland territory. The Hearts were penalized for having an illegal blocker downfield, but a 12-yard run by Pontious seemed to set up a fourth and inches opportunity at the Highland 11.

But the officiating crew didn’t replay the down after the penalty. In an explanation to Coach Hefner, the head official told him that penalty also came with a loss of down. He was incorrect, but failed to reverse the ruling. As a result, Highland was awarded the ball and Effingham did not get the opportunity to go for the first down.

(Later in the game, Highland was assessed the same penalty, but it did not come with a loss of down.)

The Hearts made it a one score game to open the third period. They put together a 16-play, 6½-minute drive that started at their own 27.

Pontious and Weldon Dunston shared the running duties and Pontious continued throwing the ball very well. He completed 7-of-9 passes, including a six-yard completion to Lotz on a fourth down call that went for the touchdown. That narrowed the gap to 28-20 at the 5:23 mark of the third period.

Highland responded with a 15-play scoring drive of its own. Travis Porter carried the ball seven times and Wuebbels went 5-for-8, including a 31-yard completion to Cade Altadonna on fourth down, which just might have been the biggest play of the game.

Rather than giving the ball back to Effingham at the 35-yard line, the Bulldogs had first and goal at the 4. On the first play of the fourth period, Porter covered those final four yards for the score. The Highland running back ran for 122 yards in the game and cracked the 1,000-yard plateau for the season.

The Hearts running game was stymied a bit. They ran for 132 total yards, but none of them came easily. The passing game, however, flourished. Pontious was 17-for-27 for 126 yards and three scores. Lotz had six of those receptions for 135 yards.

“They (Highland) committed to stopping the run, so we needed to make plays through the air,” Hefner said. “We are throwing and catching the ball much better than we did early in the year. If people are going to stack the line of scrimmage, you have to be able to throw the ball. We did that pretty well tonight.”

EHS finished with 348 total yards.

The Hearts, who finished the season 5-4, will now wait to find out who their first playoff opponent will be in Class 4A. Those pairings will be announced Saturday night.

“I love were you’re at,” Hefner told his team moments after Friday’s night contest. “I love this team and I’m excited we get another week to work together.”