Hearts Lose in OT to End Regular Season; Learn Saturday Night About First Round Playoff Opponent
Published on October 24 2014 8:45 pm
Last Updated on October 25 2014 6:53 am
Written by Greg Sapp
VIDEO: EHS vs Mahomet (direct link) Senior Night ceremony video is located here.
The Effingham Hearts battled back twice to tie the game, but lost in overtime to the Mahomet-Seymour Bulldogs Friday night, 31-24 to end the regular season in a contest heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.
On Saturday night, the Hearts will learn who will be their first round opponent in the football playoffs.
The game was Hearts Coach Mike McDonald's final regular season contest in his 23rd and final season as Varsity Head Coach.
Coach Mike McDonald with his family as Effingham honors him before Friday night's game. Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. See more of Gary's work on his Facebook page.
The Hearts scored first with 5:35 remaining in the first quarter on a 25-yard field goal by Michael Carie to take a 3-0 lead. Mahomet-Seymour came back two minutes later to score on a 24-year-old field goal by Matthew Prather to tie the game, 3-3.
Turnovers by the Hearts then led to two consecutive Mahomet-Seymour touchdowns three minutes apart in the second quarter. The Bulldogs got the ball on the Hearts' 26 on a high snap on a punt attempt, and scored on a 10-yard run by Thomas Bane, and then got it back again on a fumble at the Effingham 25 and scored on a one-yard run by Boyd Roberts and the Bulldogs were quickly in front, 17-3.
The Hearts went to work, though, staging a 10 play, 70 yard drive that was capped by Zach Miller's one-yard drive to make it 17-10 with 3:59 left in the half, and then scored with 4:51 remaining in the third period on a 16 yeard run by Travis Durbin to tie the game.
Hearts Quarterback Kevin Daugherty hands off to Zach Miller during Friday night's game against Mahomet. Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. See more of Gary's work on his Facebook page.
Mahomet-Seymour regained the lead with 39 seconds left in the third period on a five-yard run by Bane to make it 24-17, but the Hearts came back again with a 14 play, 69 yard drive with 5:58 left to tie the game and eventually send it into overtime.
Mahomet-Seymour went first and scored a touchdown on a pass play after Bulldogs quarterback Joe Kenney escaped a certain sack twice and fired a throw to the back of the end zone to Andy Livingston. The Hearts got four tries to score from the Bulldogs' 10 yard line, but came up short.
Effingham finished with 313 yards of rushing and receiving on 74 plays, 189 yards on the ground, 124 yards through the air. Mahomet-Seymour mustered 259 yards total yardage on 50 plays, 170 yards through the air, 89 yards on the ground. The Hearts registered 22 first downs to 17 for the Bulldogs. Effingham won the battle of time of possession, 30:10 to 17:50.
Zach Miller led the Hearts with 139 yards rushing and two touchdowns, bringing his season total to 1,681 yards rushing and 22 touchdowns. Also on the ground for Effingham: Billy Arndt 41 yards on seven carries, Travis Durbin 28 yards on six carries and a touchdown, Kevin Daugherty four rushes for -19 yards, and Drew Vasquez 1 rush for zero yards.
Hearts quarterback Kevin Daugherty completed 10 of 19 passes for 124 yards with one interception. Noah Lohman had three catches for 67 yards; Carter Hayes three for 35 yards; Drew Vasquez two for 19 yards, and Billy Arndt two for 3 yards.
Effingham's Carter Hayes breaks loose from a defender during Friday night's game against Mahomet. Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. See more of Gary's work on his Facebook page.
Michael Carie had five kickoffs for 223 yards; Nick Burger returned three kickoffs for 32 yards while Drew Vasquez returned one for one yard and Lane Koenig returned a kickoff for no gain.
Joe Kenney completed 12 of 22 passes for the Bulldogs for 170 yards and a touchdown. Andy Livingston caught seven passes for 100 yards, Tom Kinney had three catches for 56 yards, and Thomas Bane caught two passes for 14 yards.
The Bulldogs had a balanced rushing attack; Boyd Roberts had 58 yards on 13 carries, Thomas Bane 54 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries, and quarterback Kenney lost 23 yards on seven carries.
On the tackle sheet: nine for Travis Durbin, six each for Billy Arndt and Drew Vasquez, five for Joe Nieman and Kevin Daugherty, four for Evan Boggs, three each for Griffin Paige, Wyatt Kahley and Carter Hayes and Jordan Coleman, two each for Khole Moran and Michael Carie, and one apiece for Tucker Denton and Hunter Diveley. Michael Carie also had two interceptions.
The loss leaves the Hearts at 6-3 for the regular season, while Mahomet-Seymour finishes the regular season with a 7-2 mark. Both will find out tonight who they play in the first round of the playoffs next weekend.
