Effingham enters the contest at 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the league. Taylorville is 2-2 and 0-2 in the Apollo. The Tornados opened the season with two non-conference wins, beating Mt. Vernon 13-0 and Elgin St. Edwards 26-14. They have lost 12-9 to Mattoon and 55-14 to Mt. Zion the past two weeks.
“We had been developing a pretty good rivalry with them, but we haven’t played them since 2019,” Hefner noted. “It’s always a physical game with them. I guarantee you they’ll be well-coached and will play hard. Absolutely nothing will come easy against them.”
Taylorville plays mostly a 3-4 defensive scheme, with a lot of moving and slanting.
“They aren’t big, but they are very physical,” Hefner said. “They’re hard to score points against. I would expect a tight game. Neither of us have been putting up a ton of points.”
The Tornados offense features dual-threat quarterback Kamren Heimsness.
“We’ll have to be prepared for a little bit of everything,” the EHS coach noted. “They’ll do everything from an empty backfield and throw it all over the place to the option or a two-back set and run at you.”
The Hearts will enter the contest averaging 309 yards a game on offense. Through the first four games, they’ve run for 795 yards and gained another 443 through the air. But they’ve been whistled for 27 penalties and turned the ball over nine times. As a result, they’ve been limited to 70 total points – and 42 of those came in the win at Charleston.
One bright spot has been the running of John Westendorf. The junior back has carried the ball 76 times and gained 424 yards. That’s an average of 5.5 yards per carry and 106 yards per game.
“We’ve shown a few good things on offense, but just haven’t scored much. And when you don’t score, it makes things hard,” Hefner said. “We just haven’t been able to maintain drives consistently. Last week, we have nearly 450 yards, but 65 yards in penalties, six turnovers and just too many mistakes. That’s what keeps us from finishing drives and putting points on the board.
“But the kids have continued to work hard. I know their effort will be there,” Hefner added. “Hopefully, we’ll stay away from those mistakes this week.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.
