The Hearts opened up the aerial attack on their second possession. Jett Gillum had one reception for 14 yards and Tristin Duncan hauled in two more, including a 33-yarder that set up the second touchdown. Chase Woomer capped the seven-play drive with a nine-yard TD run.

Quarterback Nate Shackelford started the contest 2-for-5, then connected on eight straight attempts before throwing his one interception late in the second quarter. By the end of the first half, Shackelford had 231 passing yards and ended up topping the 300-yard plateau for the second game in a row.

Effingham’s third possession took just eight seconds. Shackelford found Duncan behind the Lincoln secondary for a 47-yard strike.

The Railers third straight possession ended with a punt, but it pinned the Hearts back at their own 4. That field position didn’t faze Effingham’s potent offense one bit. Shackelford connected with Jett Gillum for 14, Holden Lewis for four more and then found Duncan twice, the final time for 39 yards to increase the advantage to 27-0.

“Offensively, we have guys that can make plays and make things happen,” Hefner noted. “Tristin gets a lot of the attention, but we have other guys that can make big plays, too. And our quarterback was really good tonight. We’ve got big-play capabilities.”

Lincoln got on the scoreboard midway through the second period. A 72-yard catch and run by Austin Prater moved the ball to the EHS five yard line. On the next play, Payton Anderson ran it in to narrow the gap to 27-7.

Effingham then turned the ball on two straight possessions, but the play of the game came after the interception that gave Lincoln the ball on the EHS 33. On the second play, Lincoln quarterback Dreyden Pozsgai was pressured by the rush when Logan Brown raced in from the defensive secondary and literally ripped the ball out of Pozsgai’s arms. Brown then raced 74 yards untouched for the touchdown that sent the Hearts to the locker room with a 33-7 edge at intermission.

At halftime, the stats were as lopsided as the scoreboard. Effingham had amassed 344 yards already, while limiting Lincoln to just 116 – and 72 of those came on the one play. The Hearts even used an up-tempo attack during those first 24 minutes.

“Lincoln had a lot of two-way players,” Hefner explained. “If the opportunity presented itself to get some up-tempo work in during the game, we were going to take advantage of that. You just have to be smart about it.”

Effingham’s defense was even stingier in the second half, allowing only 30 yards of total offense. The Hearts racked up four quarterback sacks in the contest. The Railers finished with just 146 total yards and five first downs.

The Hearts scored two more TDs in the second half.

The first was a 50-yard, six play drive that featured two completions to Gillum for 37 yards and a one-yard plunge by Logan Brown for the TD.

Effingham’s final score came after a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock. Ten of those plays came on the group, with Woomer serving as the workhorse. The junior running back carried the ball seven times for 39 yards and covered the final three yards for the score. Schackelford also had an 18-yard gallop during that possession.

The Hearts finished with 497 offensive yards. That included 196 on the ground and 301 through the air. Brown and Woomer combined to run for 181 yards, with Brown picking up 96 and Woomer 75.

Shackelford completed 16-of-20 attempts for 301 yards and Duncan, again, was his favorite target, hauling in 9 catches for 205 yards.

“I thought our execution was better tonight on both sides of the ball,” Hefner said, in reference to the improvements he saw from Week No. 1. “When we watch the film, though, I’m sure we will see plenty of things that will still need fixed.”

The Hearts will take their 2-0 record on the road next week, traveling to Jerseyville for a non-conference matchup. Game time is 7 p.m.