Hearts Open Apollo Play at Taylorville

After a comeback that fell just short in last week's season opener, the Effingham Hearts will look to open Apollo Conference play with a win Friday night.

The Hearts head to Taylorville to take on the Tornadoes. Kickoff is at 7pm. Hear the action on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. Pre-game coverage will begin at 6:45pm.

Effingham fell behind 27-0 last week before 26 unanswered points brought the Hearts to the brink. A blocked extra point try allowed Breese Mater Dei to hold on for a 27-26 win.

The task doesn't get any easier for the Hearts this week, traveling to Taylorville to take a Tornadoes squad that thumped Mt. Vernon last week 42-6.

Brandon Odam, nephew of Taylorville Coach Jeb Odam, will again quarterback the Tornadoes. Evan Champley joins Odam as the chief running threats, while Jagger Moore and Trey Crites will look for receiving opportunities.

Effingham's offense will be keyed by senior running back Terrence Hill, who carried a whopping 43 times last week for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Almost 200 yards of that total and both touchdowns came in the second half. 

The Hearts will be looking to jumpstart their passing game. Effingham was just five of 20 on passing attempts last week for 39 yards. Another key item of attention this week in practice was holding onto the football. The Hearts fumbled five times, losing four of those, and lost the ball another time to an interception. Those turnovers keyed most of the Mater Dei scoring opportunities, as the Knights only netted 184 total yards, but scored five times on three touchdowns and two field goals.

Here are tonight's Week Two matchups:

EFFINGHAM ____ at Taylorville _____

Mahomet-Seymour _____ at Charleston _____

Mt. Zion _____ at Lincoln _____

Mascoutah _____ at Mattoon _____

Newton _____ at Casey-Westfield _____

Cumberland _____ at Sullivan-Okaw Valley _____

Red Hill _____ at Olney Richland County _____

Robinson _____ at Flora _____

Paris _____ at Lawrenceville _____

Marshall _____ at Geneseo _____

Salem _____ at Breese Central _____

Cerro Gordo-Bement _____ at Shelbyville _____

Vandalia _____ at Hillsboro _____