VIDEO: Charleston Hands Hearts Fourth Straight Loss (w/UPDATED STATS)

VIDEO UNDER STORY

Those two old rivals, Effingham and Charleston, met for high school football action Friday night and the Trojans put together an impressive performance, downing the Hearts 46-7.  The home opener and Apollo Conference opener for Effingham was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

In its previous two games against Paxton-Buckley-Loda and Centralia, the Hearts stayed competitive throughout the contest, but Friday night's game brought back memories of Opening Night at Breese where the Hearts fell behind early and played catchup all night.

Charleston scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and moved ahead 20-0 and then scored two touchdowns and a field goal in the second period to roll up 37 points before halftime.

Effingham scored its only touchdown with 1:45 left before halftime when Zach Miller ran it in from six yards out and then kicked the extra point.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Trojans scored two more touchdowns and kicked another field goal in the final period to account for the 39-point margin.

Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. Check out Gary's amazing work by clicking here.

The Hearts rolled up 237 total yards, 56 through the air and 181 on the ground in 41 carries.  Hearts quarterback Nathan Vail completed 5 of 12 passes including his last three and four of his last five.  Drew Levitt caught four passes for 49 yards and Zach Bloemker caught a seven-yard pass.  Dylan Wolff threw an incomplete pass on an option play, and Kevin Daugherty was 0 for 3 passing with an interception.

Charleston quarterback Sean Hussey was 9 of 19 passing for 128 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.  Truston Winnett caught two passes for 59 yards and a touchdown, Noah Miller caught two passes for 12 yards, Austin Cohn caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown and Josh Cazley caught a pass for 10 yards.  Josh Cazley rushed 14 times for 175 yards and two touchdowns, Noah Miller carried 12 times for 73 yards, Orion Roberts had 10 rushes for 44 yards and a touchdown, Hussey rushed once for four yards, Brandon Warfel had two carries for -3 yards, Louis Turner carried once for two yards, and Zach Clough rushed once for no gain.

Caydin Vaughn led the Hearts in rushing with 75 yards on 14 carries, while Logan Howell gained 58 yards on 12 carries.  Zach Miller had seven rushes for 34 yards and a touchdown, Vail rushed six times for six yards and Kevin Daugherty who finished up at quarterback for the Hearts carried twice for eight yards.

Charleston rolled up 423 yards in rushing and receiving including 295 rushing yards and 128 yards through the air. 

The Hearts picked up 11 first downs, three by passing.

As far as special teams stats, for Charleston Nick Wilson punted once for 40 yards, Josh Cazley returned one punt for three yards, Truston Winnett intercepted a pass and ran it back 25 yards for a touchdown, Nick Wilson had eight kickoffs for 375 yards, Josh Cazley returned one kickoff for 11 yards and Truston Winnett returned a kickoff for 27 yards, and Orion Roberts and James Hudson each recovered a fumble.

For the Hearts, Zach Miller punted four times for 102 yards, Dustin Levitt kicked off twice for 99 yards, Logan Howell returned six kickoffs for 125 yards, Carter Hayes returned one kick for zero yards, and Miller returned one for 22 yards, and Brandon Loy recovered a fumble.

Effingham was led in tackles by Travis Durbin with 13 including one solo stop and Levi Michael recorded 11 stops including two solos.  Cody Sennett had nine tackles including five solos and Andy Salcedo had seven stops including three solos.  Bill Arndt had six tackles, two solos and Dirk Levitt had five stops, two solos.  Matt Wohltman and Blaine Koester each had four tackles with Koester getting a solo.  Tyler Johnson and Dustin Levitt had three tackles each, Taylor Claar, Caydin Vaughn and Zach Miller each had two tackles with Vaughn getting two solos and Miller getting one.  Marcus Robinson made a tackle and also grabbed an interception in the end zone to deny Charleston a chance to score.  Bill Arndt recovered a fumble for the Hearts.  Scott Deunk, Carter Hayes and Jordan Coleman were each in on a tackle.

Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. Check out Gary's amazing work by clicking here.

The Hearts are now 0-4, 0-1 in the Apollo Conference and travel to Salem next Friday night.  Charleston improves to 3-1, 1-0 in the conference and take on Mattoon next weekend in their first ever conference clash and their first contest against each other in 25 seasons.  The game will be played on O'Brien Field at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

VIDEO: EHS vs. Charleston