So far, the EHS offense has run 112 plays in the two games and gained a total of 402 yards. Out of those 112 plays, there were 13 incomplete passes, seven runs of 0 yards and 25 more runs that resulted in a quarterback sack (eight so far) or a running back thrown for a loss. That’s 40 percent of the plays that generated either no yardage whatsoever or a total of 119 negative yards.

Throw in 13 penalties for another 100 yards and it’s no surprise the offense has scored just two touchdowns in the first 96 minutes of the season.

“We have to be able to generate some offense,” Hefner admitted. “A big part of our problem is our fundamentals and techniques. We’re trying to clean up some things. We have to be able to run the football, complete a few passes and finish some drives. But so far, we haven’t been able to do that.”

On defense, Effingham hasn’t been able to apply much pressure on the quarterback, even when they’ve blitzed. As a result, the two opponents have completed 27-of-49 passes for 463 yards and four touchdowns.

“We have to be more physical,” Hefner said. “This is probably the least physical team we’ve had the last few years. We’ve got to be able to get to the quarterback. We’ve also got to keep guys in front of us and make plays on pass plays. We haven’t done that very well either.”

But Friday night provides another opportunity against an opponent that’s not near the same caliber as St. Teresa or Mahomet-Seymour.

“Charleston is big up front, their quarterback returns and they have a couple nice tailbacks,” Hefner explained. “It looks like the same scheme they’ve used the past couple years. They will run from various formations, but primarily they use that big line to get body on body and let their backs make decisions.

“On defense, they run a 3-4 scheme similar to Mahomet-Seymour but without much movement,” Hefner added. “They have a handful of guys that play both ways up front. Hopefully, our depth can be a factor.”

And, hopefully, the offense can be more of factor as well. Junior John Westendorf has rushed for 146 yards on 34 carries. Quarterback Tanner Pontious has gained 79 more, but that stat is greatly reduced by the quarterback sacks. The junior has completed just 6-of-19 passes for 116 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

“There’s just no margin for error on Friday nights,” Hefner said. “When you play JV games on Monday or JFL on Saturday, you can get by with a few mistakes. But when you make those mistakes in varsity games, it generally costs you six points. And when you play really good teams like we have, it will cost you more than that.

“We’ve got an opportunity this week to get our first win,” Hefner added. “That first one is always tough to get. Hopefully, that will happen and we can start rolling from there.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Charleston.