Hearts Close Season With Loss to Mahomet-Seymour

The Effingham Hearts came from 20 points down to tie the game, but fell to Mahomet-Seymour 33-20 in the season-ending Senior Night game at Klosterman Field. The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Effingham fell behind 20-0 as the Bulldogs scored on a 76-yard pass and run play by Joshua Johnson in the first quarter, a nine-yard run by Tristan Leever in the second quarter, and a 19-yard pass to Leever to start the third quarter, but the Hearts came back.

Effingham staged a 10-play, 69-yard drive that culminated with Landon Wolfe throwing a six-yard touchdown pass to big brother Grant Wolfe to make it 20-6 with 4:08 left in the third quarter. The Hearts then went 60 yards in three plays ending with a 49-yard touchdown run by Terrence Hill and Danny Hortenstine's extra point kick to pull within 20-13 with 1:43 left in the third.

Effingham scored again with 11:26 left in the fourth quarter on a two-play, 29-yard drive that involved a loss and a penalty and then a 42-yard touchdown pass to Hill and Hortenstine's kick to knot the game at 20-20.

Mahomet-Seymour came right back, though, scoring on a five-play, 67-yard drive highlighted by a three-yard touchdown run by Leever to pull back ahead 26-20 with 9:04 remaining. Then, after Effingham yielded the ball, the Bulldogs sealed the win with a 12-play, 66-yard touchdown run that took 6:42 off the clock. Leever's one-yard touchdown run and the extra point made it 33-20 and left the Hearts with just 1:12 remaining in the contest.

Effingham finished with 11 first downs to 18 for Mahomet-Seymour. The Bulldogs gained 149 yards rushing compared to 84 yards for the Hearts, only 14 for the Hearts in the first half. The Bulldogs also passed for 211 yards compared to 171 for the Hearts. That means a 360-to-255 total yardage edge for Mahomet-Seymour.

Terrence Hill wrapped up a sensational junior year with 80 yards rushing on 17 carries. He finished with more than 1,600 yards rushing this season, along with 20 touchdowns. Zane Thilker got a start in his final game and carried three times for four yards, Landon Wolfe got sacked for a four-yard loss, Jordan McCabe carried once for two yards, Lucas Vasquez rushed four times for zero yards, and Alec Morrissey carried once for two yards.

For Mahomet-Seymour, Leever carried 22 times for 66 yards, but three touchdowns. Hunter Crowley carried 11 times for 82 yards, quarterback Connor Thomas finished with six carries for -12 yards, Jordan Veldman had two rushes for -1 yard, Brooks Coetzee had a two-yard carry, and Ryan Emmerd had a 12-yard gain.

At quarterback, Landon Wolfe was five for 12 passing for 107 yards with two touchdowns. Lucas Vasquez was seven of 17 passing for 64 yards with one interception.

Gabe Herron had five catches for 68 yards, Logan Smith had two catches for 29 yards, Harrison Smith had three receptions for 27 yards, Jacob Miller caught a pass for no gain, Grant Wolfe had a six-yard touchdown catch, and Terrence Hill had three receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Mahomet-Seymour quarterback Connor Thomas passed for 211 yards and two touchdowns with one pick, finished nine of 21 passing. Joshua Johnson caught two touchdown passes for 95 yards, Jordan Veldman had two catches for 16 yards, Ryan Emmerd caught a 38-yard pass, Tristan Leever had two catches for 22 yards, and Dann-e Simmons caught two passes for 40 yards.

Also for Effingham, Logan Smith had six punts for 175 yards; Grant Wolfe had a 22-yard pass interception; Danny Hortenstine had three kickoffs totaling 100 yards; kickoff returns came from Gage Franklin for nine yards, Harrison Smith for no gain, Jordan McCabe for 37 yards, Jakob Conrad for 10 yards, and Tyler Marschewski two for 39 yards; and Braden Hasty had a fumble recovery.

Effingham finished its season with a 3-6 record. Seniors included Gabe Herron, Harrison Smith, Logan Poe, Grant Wolfe, Zac Bateman, Zane Thilker, Hunter Diveley, Brendan Dawkins, Drew Tegeler, Ashton Blunt and Isaac Heischmidt.

Mahomet-Seymour finished 6-3 on the regular season and is headed to the playoffs next weekend.