By Steve Raymond

ET Sports Report

Eight weeks into a season, there are reasons why some teams are undefeated.

Those squads are generally able to put points on the board offensively and defensively keep their opponents out of the end zone.

And, they take advantage of mistakes.

That’s exactly what happened Friday night.

The Effingham Hearts played the unbeaten and highly-ranked Breese Mater Dei Knights really tough for most of the first half.

But a fumble and interception helped the hosts score four touchdowns in 6½ minutes to break the game open.

And when the final horn sounded, Mater Dei had a 41-13 victory on a rainy night in Breese.

“They are a talented group,” EHS coach Brett Hefner said. “But when we do things right, we’ve proven to be a pretty good football team, too. We just weren’t consistent enough tonight.”

Midway through the second quarter, the Hearts were in a 7-7 game and holding their own.

The Knights then put together their most impressive drive of the game, a 13-play, 76-yard march to take the lead for good. They mixed the run and the pass in this possession. Quarterback Bryce Revermann completed five straight passes and went 6-for-7 for 49 of the yards.

Running back Jayce Napovanice picked up 39 yards on the ground and the drive was capped when Cameron Haag scored one of his five touchdowns with a short one-yard burst. That made it 14-7 with 5:36 to play in the first half.

But that was just the beginning of Mater Dei’s scoring surge.

The Hearts had trouble moving the ball much of the game. Four of their five first-half possessions were three plays or less. Sandwiched in between, however, was an excellent 13-play, 51-yard drive that took six minutes off the clock.

Quarterback Tanner Pontious had a six-yard run on fourth down to keep the drive going, John Westendorf broke loose for a 21-yard gallop and then Pontious got Effingham into the end zone when he found Evan Waymoth for a two-yard scoring pass – again on a fourth down play. That knotted the game at 7-7 with 10:12 to go in the first half.

The Knights followed with their go-ahead scoring drive and then put the game away during the next 6½ minutes.

After the Hearts went three-and-out, Mater Dei struck quickly. This time it was five plays and 51 yards. Revermann connected with Napovanice for 31 yards and then found Haag for an 11-yard scoring strike to make it 21-7.

It appeared as if the Hearts would try to just run out the clock to end the half, but Pontious fumbled and the Knights recovered at the EHS eight. Two plays later, Napovanice scooted six yards around the end to give the Knights a 28-7 advantage at intermission.

Effingham got the ball to start the second half, but the turnover bug hit again on the very first play. A Pontious pass was intercepted and Mater Dei had the ball just 39 yards away from the goal line. Napovanice broke loose for 21 yards and the Revermann-to-Haag combination hooked up again, this time from 18 yards out to increase the lead to 35-7.

“You can’t give away plays or give away the ball,” Hefner noted. “When you play against explosive teams like this, your margin for error is pretty slim.”

Breese Mater Dei added one more TD in the third quarter and it was that guy Haag that scored again after hauling in a 17-yard strike from Revermann.

The Hearts also managed to find the end zone again late in the game.

After Mater Dei had a bad snap on a punt, Effingham took over at the Knights 35. The Hearts ran seven plays. Pontious connected with Armando Estrada for 17 yards and Westendorf bulled across the goal line from one yard out to account for the final score.

The Knights, who entered the game as the No. 2 ranked team in Class 2A and improved to 8-0, racked up 277 total yards despite the inclement weather. Napovanice ran for 103 yards on 17 carries, Brevermann completed 13-of-21 passes for 146 yards and Haag turned in a solid all-around game, catching seven passes for 91 yards and running for 23 more.

Mater Die will finish its regular season next week at Mt. Zion.

The Hearts finished with 163 yards. They ran for 136, with Westendorf accounting for 91 of those on 24 carries. Pontious completed 5-of-14 passes for 27 yards.

EHS is now 4-4 overall. The Hearts will wrap up its regular season at home next week against Highland. It will be Senior Night at Jack Klosterman Field.

“It’s important that we recognize and honor our seniors,” Hefner said. “It’s also the last home game and I know the boys will want to play well for that.

“One thing I love about these kids is that they always play hard,” the coach added. “They take coaching well and they always try their best. Myself, and the entire coaching staff, appreciates that.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.