Mt. Zion Downs Effingham in Friday Football

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The Mt. Zion Braves showed they have more than just Austin Ray on their football team as they defeated the Effingham Hearts 26-6 Friday night.  The game was heard on 979XFM and on www.979xfm.com where both live audio and video streaming was featured.

The contest was the second annual "Real Men Wear Pink" game in partnership by the football team with St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Mt. Zion, like the Hearts, was 2-5 heading into the contest, but the Braves played a solid game and scored in each quarter. 

The Braves staged a 12-play, 73-yard drive to start the game, taking 6:05 off the clock before underrated quarterback Sam Olson completed a 19-yard pass to Tyler Hayes for a touchdown.

Mt. Zion extended the lead to 12-0 on a six-play, 73-yard drive that took 2:42 to complete before Ray scored from inside the one-yard line.

The Braves got the ball at Effingham's 12-yard line after problems with a punt and scored three plays later on an 11-yard pass play from Olson to Ray.  A pass play to Hayes for a two-point conversion made it 20-0.

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

Mt. Zion scored their last touchdown at the end of an eight-play, 60-yard drive that took 4:00 to complete on a nine-yard run by Ray.

Effingham scored its lone touchdown with 4:29 to play at the end of a five-play, 74-yard drive that took just 1:57 to complete on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Vail to Drew Levitt.

Effingham picked up 11 first downs, five by rushing, five by passing with one by penalty.  That compares to 23 Mt. Zion touchdowns, 17 on the ground.  The Hearts gained just 80 rushing yards on 24 carries, while adding 144 passing yards as Vail finished 9 for 28 passing with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Mt. Zion rolled up 412 yards rushing and receiving, 253 on the ground, 159 through the air.

Drew Levitt was Vail's favorite target, catching five passes for 112 yards and a touchdown.  Carter Hayes caught two passes for 12 yards, Logan Howell had a 17-yard catch, and Caydin Vaughn had a three-yard reception.

Howell led the Hearts in rushing with 45 yards on six carries, Vail took it himself 13 times for 29 yards, Zach Miller carried three times for seven yards, and Caydin Vaughn had two rushes for minus one yard.

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

Concerning Austin Ray, the Braves' running back carried the ball 39 times and gained 198 yards.  Ray, just a junior, has rushed for more than 1,500 yards this season.

Also for Mt. Zion, Zach Naylor had 10 rushes for 43 yards, Olson rushed once for five yards, Jake Eckenrod carried twice for nine yards, and Payton Grinestaff finished at quarterback, taking a knee twice.

Olson, the Braves' quarterback, hit on 11 of 17 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns.  Hayes had four catches for 62 yards and a score, Ray caught two passes for 69 yards, Carson Leiner had two receptions for 12 yards, Bryan Foster caught two passes for 11 yards, and Bailey Reynolds had a five-yard catch.

Injured Hearts player Jordan Tonn talked with us during a visit to the broadcast booth at halftime.

Travis Durbin had 16 tackles to pace the Hearts, four solos, while Scott Deunk and Billy Arndt each had 12 stops, four solos for Deunk and five solos for Arndt, Tyler Johnson had nine tackles, three solos, Cody Sennett, Dirk Levitt, Andy Salcedo and Levi Michael each had five tackles, Sennett four solos, Levitt three solos, Salcedo four solos, and Michael one solo, Trent Barnhart and Marcus Robinson three tackles, Robinson two solos, Carter Hayes, Caydin Vaughn and Brandon Loy two tackles, one solo each for Vaughn and Loy, and Zach Miller, Payton Bushue and Dustin Levitt each had one tackle, Miller's a solo stop.

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

The Hearts wrap up their season next Friday night playing host to Mahomet-Seymour on Senior Night at Klosterman Field.  Game time will be 7pm and we'll have the game on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

VIDEO: EHS vs. Mt. Zion