By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
What do 43-6, 46-7, 36-0 and 63-14 have in common?
Those are the final scores the last four times Effingham has played Lincoln.
Playing Lincoln and beating Lincoln have become a synonymous occurrence. A sure win.
But not this year.
The Railsplitters are experiencing quite a turnaround and will be a formidable foe Friday night when they travel to Jack Klosterman Field to face a resurging Effingham squad on Homecoming Night.
It should be a very good Apollo Conference contest.
Lincoln will enter with a 3-3 overall mark and 2-2 in the conference. Effingham is also 3-3 overall and stands 3-2 in the Apollo.
The Railsplitters have defeated Clinton 58-6, Charleston 14-6 and Mattoon 35-34. They have lost 32-16 to Jerseyville, 53-22 to Mahomet-Seymour and 27-22 to Mt. Zion. Lincoln is coming off its big win against Mattoon, while the Hearts will be looking for a third straight win following last Friday’s exciting 28-27 victory at Mt. Zion.
“That was a good win for us,” Hefner admitted. “It felt good to be back into a tight game against a good opponent. Plus, it was great to have such a good crowd there. If just felt good to have that atmosphere again.”
But he knows it will take another good effort to gain a victory this week.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Chicago Bears fans will probably never forget the double doink.
Placekicker Cody Parkey had a chance to lift the Bears to a win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2018 NFC Wild Card game. But his 43-yard field goal attempt with just 10 seconds left first clanked off the left upright, then hit the crossbar and fell to the field, securing the Eagles 16-15 victory.
Well, the double doink returned Friday night and will now be a part of Mt. Zion’s football history.
With 2:45 left in the contest, placekicker Brayden Traxler was set up right in the middle of the field for a 23-yard field goal that would have put the Braves on top. But his kick veered left, squarely hit that left upright and then bounced off the crossbar and back into the end zone.
The Effingham Hearts on the field and the sideline, plus the fans in the stands, erupted with joy.
The underdog Hearts got one first down and then went into the “victory formation” as the final seconds ticked off the clock. When the horn sounded, it was a jubilant group that celebrated a much-deserved, albeit unexpected, 28-27 victory in Mt. Zion.
Effingham coach Brett Hefner greeted his team just moments after the biggest win of the season with a blood-curdling scream reminiscent of William Wallace in “Braveheart.”
“Now that’s the way we play football,” Hefner told his team. “Unbelievable job! Unbelievable job!”
He followed that with another scream and the Hearts erupted again, enjoying easily their finest moment of the 2021 fall season.
“I’m so happy for these kids,” Hefner said. “They just hung in and kept battling. It was a great effort on their part. I’m just so proud of them.”
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Run early and run often to set the tone.
And then use the pass as the dagger.
That formula proved to be successful Friday night, as the run-happy Effingham Hearts used a couple of perfect pass plays to pull away in the second half and post a 27-7 victory at Taylorville and ruin Homecoming Night for the Tornados.
The Hearts were in control of the game from the outset. But a fumble at the Taylorville 12-yard line stopped the first possession. Later in the first half, another drive got inside the Tornados 25 before a costly holding penalty caused that one to stall.
As a result, Effingham went to the locker room with a slim 6-0 lead at intermission.
“It was a frustrating feeling at halftime,” EHS coach Brett Hefner admitted. “I felt like we had controlled everything, but they were only one play away from taking the lead.”
During the first 24 minutes, the Hearts ran a total of 28 plays – 26 of them were on the ground. Quarterback Tanner Pontious threw just two short passes. Both were completed, but for only eight total yards.
“We weren’t getting any explosive plays from our running game, although we were getting four to five yards a pop,” Hefner noted. “I had a hard time pulling the trigger on our passing game. I just didn’t feel comfortable doing so.
“But I knew at some point we were going to need to get some chunk plays,” the veteran coach added. “I knew we were going to have to put the ball in the air.”
And it didn’t take long for that to happen.
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
The Effingham Hearts will not only face one of the Apollo Conference’s toughest teams Friday night, they will also encounter arguably the league’s most dynamic player.
The Hearts will travel to Mt. Zion and battle a Braves team that stands 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the Apollo.
They will also try to figure out a game plan to contain Mt. Zion’s Christian Keyhea.
“He’s one of the best athletes and receivers in the state,” EHS coach Brett Hefner admitted. “They do a good job of getting him the ball. They move him all over the field. He’ll line up as a running back, receiver and even as a quarterback when they’ll just snap the ball directly to him.”
Through five games, the senior speedster has accounted for 734 total yards and 12 touchdowns. He has 26 catches for 444 yards – an average of 17 yards per reception -- and eight TDs and has carried the ball 33 times for another 290 yards and four scores.
“In the films we’ve seen, nobody has been able to contain him yet,” Hefner noted. “It doesn’t take much of a crease for him to get free. And if he gets going, you’re not going to catch him.”
By Steve Raymond
ET Sports Report
Like he does after every game, Effingham football coach Brett Hefner watched the game film of the Mattoon contest last Friday night.
After doing so, he had just one word to describe what he saw.
“Frustrating.”
The Hearts amassed 437 yards on offense, but found the end zone just twice in their 20-14 Apollo Conference loss at home to the Green Wave.
Unfortunately, in addition to all the yards, there were also eight penalties, six turnovers and, according to film, several mistakes.
“We just don’t do things right as a team consistently enough to win,” Hefner said. “We had the ball for much of the game and out-gained them. But there were just too many mistakes. And it was a different position each play.”
The week before in the Hearts 42-0 thumping of Charleston, Hefner said there 16 plays when the offensive line did everything right. Against Mattoon, there were only six.
“Time and again, five of the six guys did the right thing, but one didn’t,” Hefner noted. “And then you’d watch the next play and it was a different guy. Those are the things that are preventing us from finishing drives. We just can’t have that.”
And what about the defense?
“We’d finally get some pressure on the quarterback, but then he’d escape because one guy didn’t play contain right,” Hefner added. “And on some plays, our backs kept peaking into the backfield rather than keeping their eyes on the guy they were supposed to be covering. On other plays, whoever was responsible for covering their back out of the backfield didn’t do it.
“Here we are in Week 5 and still having to deal with these fundamental things. That’s the frustrating part,” the veteran coach explained. “But that’s what makes this sport so unique. You have to have all 11 guys doing the right things or you give up big plays. And when you’re playing good teams, those mistakes get magnified.”
This week, the Hearts will be on the road, traveling to Taylorville. It will be Homecoming for the Tornados.
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