“We got those points at the end of the first half, then came out and scored and got a stop,” Hefner noted. “I thought we were starting to gain command. But that turnover changed the whole feeling of the game.”

A 20-yard scamper on an end-around by Langdon King and a 22-yard completion from Luke Bonnstetter to Luke Nelson were the key plays on the go-head TD.

On the ensuing kickoff, Effingham’s Jacob Weaver nearly broke the return for a score. He raced 64 yards to give the Hearts great field position at the Charleston 31. But on a fourth down play, another fumble stopped that promising possession.’

The Hearts defense forced a punt, but on the first play of their next possession, a third straight fumble gave the ball right back to the Trojans, this time at the EHS 27. Sophomore Wade Bushur intercepted a Bonnstetter pass, however, to end that scoring threat and give Effingham another chance.

But the offense couldn’t put together another drive for a potential winning score. One possession ended with a punt and the final one with an interception that came with only 1:21 to play. Unfortunately, the Hearts were out of timeouts and had no way to stop the clock.

“Anytime you turn the ball over or go backwards with penalties, you never get into a rhythm,” Hefner explained.  “For us, it’s just the same week after week. We’ve got to eliminate negative plays and we have to do a better job of executing.”

The Hearts looked unstoppable on their first drives of both halves.

After the defense forced a three-and-out to start the game, the EHS offense looked sharp. Weldon Dunston carried the ball twice for a first down, quarterback Gaige Gillum broke loose for a 17-yard gain and Dunston followed with another 11-yard burst.

Gillum also connected with Andrew Lotz for a 25-yard pickup on a third call to move the ball inside the 10. On the 10th play, Dunston took the ball up the middle and bulled his way into the endzone from eight yards out to cap the 67-yard drive and put the Hearts up 7-0 at the 7:06 mark of the opening period.

Then on the opening possession of the second half, EHS marched 65 yards in impressive fashion to take the lead. Gillum broke off a 28-yard run and Dunston followed with a 23-yard burst. Then on the seventh play, Gillum got loose on the outside and sprinted to the endzone to put the Hearts on top, 17-14.

Those two drives accounted for 132 of the Hearts 299 total yards. The remaining nine possessions resulted in six punts and four turnovers.

Charleston’s best possession of the game came after Effingham’s TD. Brett Spour had a 13-yard run and Bonnstetter completed three straight passes, including a 27-yarder to Nelson. The 74-yard, nine-play drive culminated with a three-yard dive by Spour into the endzone.

The hosts also scored late in the second quarter when Spour broke a couple tackles, got to the outside and ran 53 yards to put CHS up 14-7.

The Trojans finished with 255 yards – 120 on the ground and 135 through the air. Spour was the workhorse, carrying the ball 27 times for 89 yards. Had it not been for a bad direct snap to him early in the fourth period, he would have had his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season. Bonnstetter completed 11-of-22 attempts for 135 yards.

Dunston did crack the 100-yard plateau for the fourth time, finishing with 110 yards on 29 carries. Gillum had 76 yards rushing and the Hearts finished with 204 yards on the ground. Gillum completed 6-of-13 passes for 95 yards. Lotz hauled in four of those for 86 yards.

Charleston improved to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Apollo. The Hearts are now 2-3 for the season and also stand at 1-1 in league play.

Effingham will return home next Friday for another Apollo Conference contest. The Hearts will host Taylorville at Washington Savings Bank Stadium. It will be Homecoming Night.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.