VIDEO: Hearts Lose Heartbreaker in Overtime to End Football Season

FULL GAME VIDEO, INCLUDING SENIOR NIGHT INTRODUCTIONS, UNDER STORY

The Effingham Hearts played one of their best football games this season Friday night, losing on a field goal in overtime 17-14 to Mahomet-Seymour.  The game was broadcast on 979XFM and streamed on www.979xfm.com. 

The Hearts' Trent Barnhart recovered a fumble on the Mahomet-Seymour two-yard line with 4:31 left in regulation.  On the second play, Caydin Vaughn busted across the goal line for the touchdown and Zach Miller kicked the extra point to tie the game at 14-14.  Both teams tried to get a winning score in regulation, including a field goal try by Mahomet-Seymour that missed.

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

That led to overtime, where each team gets to line it up on the 10-yard line and has four plays to score.  The Hearts were unable to cash in on their four plays, but they prevented Mahomet-Seymour on their first three plays before kicker Andrew Shroyer hit from 23 yards out to win the game for the Bulldogs.

Mahomet-Seymour scored on its opening drive of the game, capping a nine-play, 60-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run by Jordan Rock.  Shroyer's kick made it 7-0 with 8:58 left in the opening quarter.

The Hearts stormed right back, though, staging a 16-play, 69-yard drive that took 6:48 to complete and was highlighted by a five-yard touchdown pass by Nathan Vail to Carter Hayes with 2:10 remaining in the frame.  Miller's kick tied the game at 7-7.

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

Mahomet-Seymour regained the lead with 8:26 remaining in the second quarter on a 17-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Joe Kenney to Matt Turner.  The kick made it 14-7, and that's how the game stayed until the heroics when the Hearts recovered the fumble at the two.

The Hearts picked up 14 first downs, gaining seven on the ground and seven through the air.  Effingham gained just 52 rushing yards and a touchdown on 34 carries.  Quarterback Nathan Vail completed 14 of 34 passes for 196 yards and a score while being intercepted twice.

Effingham's ground yardage was pretty evenly shared with Logan Howell carrying 10 times for 34 yards, Vail 13 carries for -5 yards, Caydin Vaughn seven carries for 14 yards, Bill Arndt three carries for seven yards, and Zach Miller one tote for two yards.

Carter Hayes caught four passes for 46 yards and a touchdown, Zach Bloemker caught four balls for 27 yards, Vaughn caught two passes for 40 yards, Logan Howell had two catches for 21 yards, Drew Levitt caught two passes for 32 yards, and Zach Miller had an 11-yard catch.

Jordan Rock led Mahomet-Seymour with 163 yards on 38 carries.  Mahomet-Seymour quarterback Joe Kenney completed just three of 20 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown.

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

Travis Durbin led the Hearts with 19 tackles including eight solo stops.  Scott Deunk and Bill Arndt each had 12 stops, five solos for Arndt and four for Deunk.  Tyler Johnson had 10 tackles including five solos.  Brandon Loy had seven tackles, three solos.  Andy Salcedo had five tackles, two solos.  Cody Sennett had four stops, three solos.  Levi Michael had three tackles, two solos.  Dirk Levitt, Caydin Vaughn and Trent Barnhart each had two tackles, one solo each.  Wyatt Kahley, Nathan Vail and Carter Hayes each had a tackle, each a solo.

The Hearts finished the season with a 2-7 record, 2-3 in the Apollo Conference.  They say goodbye to seniors Caydin Vaughn, Levi Michael, Dirk Levitt, Nathan Vail, Drew Levitt, Cody Sennett, Scott Deunk, Logan Howell, Zach Bloemker, Andy Salcedo, Jeremy Greenwood, Tyler Johnson, Jeff Coleman, Brenton Hull, Dustin Levitt, Taylor Claar, Carlos Salcedo and Jordan Tonn.

VIDEO: EHS vs Mahomet-Seymour