Hearts' Wonderful Football Season Comes to an End

The Effingham Hearts' wonderful football season came to an end Saturday afternoon.

The Highland Bulldogs rode a five-touchdown second quarter to a 57-14 victory over the Hearts in action at Highland. The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Highland improved to 11-0 on the season. The Hearts finish at 9-2.

Highland will play at home again next Saturday, taking on Herscher, who smashed Taylorville 43-6.

Highland scored on its first possession of the game, at the end of a six-play, 51-yard drive, when quarterback Garrett Marti sneaked into the end zone from five yards out. The Bulldogs ran for two and led 8-0 three minutes into the game.

Highland scored five minutes later at the end of a four-play, 63-yard drive on a 54-yard touchdown pass from Marti to Sam LaPorta. The pass for two was unsuccessful, but the Hearts trailed 14-0.

Effingham got on the board seconds later after a touchback gave the Hearts the ball on their 20. On the first play of the drive, running back Terrence Hill found room along the sideline to take it 80 yards for a touchdown. Danny Hortenstine's extra point try was good and the Hearts were within 14-7. That's where things stood at the end of one quarter, but then came the fateful second period.

Highland scored on a 35-yard pass play from Marti to Brady Feldmann, scored on a 64-yard pass play from Marti to Jack Etter, scored on a seven-yard run by Feldmann, scored on a 26-yard pass from Marti to LaPorta, and scored on a 46-yard pass from Marti to Feldmann.

When the half ended, the Hearts trailed 50-14.

Amidst the carnage that quarter, Effingham did score, at the end of a five-play, 66-yard drive highlighted by a 34-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Shackelford to Jordan McCabe. Hortenstine kicked the extra point to extend his single-season record for most PATs to 50 in 63 attempts.

Highland scored a minute into the second half on a 45-yard pass from Marti to Dylan Shaw, which kicked in the running clock and that ended any further scoring.

Highland racked up 550 net yards, 429 in the first half. The Bulldogs totaled 360 passing yards, along with 190 rushing yards. The Bulldogs totaled 16 first downs.

Effingham totaled 247 yards, 236 in the first half. The Hearts rushed for 166 yards and one touchdown and passed for 81 yards and a score.

The time-of-possession was very close, 24:21 for Highland to 23:39 for Effingham.

For the Hearts individually, Terrence Hill finished his brilliant career with 166 yards and a touchdown. That brings his career rushing total to 4,290 yards. That eclipses the previous record by more than 1,200 yards. His 60 career touchdowns beats the previous record by eight. His 360 career points is 33 more than the previous record. His season rushing total of 2,187 yards is more than 300 yards more than the previous record. His season touchdown total of 37 is nine more than the previous record. His 222 season points is almost 50 more than the previous record.

The other rushing numbers: Nate Shackelford 3 carries for 1 yard; Landon Wolfe 3 carries for -4 yards, and Dante Latham 3 carries for 3 yards.

As far as the Hearts' passing stats, Landon Wolfe was 5 of 11 for 40 yards with 2 interceptions, and Shackelford was 2 of 5 for 41 yards and a touchdown. Hill had 3 catches for 28 yards, McCabe the 34-yard touchdown catch, Jacob Miller a five-yard grab, Dylan Bushur a seven-yard reception, and Logan Smith a seven-yard grab.

Here's the tackle sheet: Kody Line 3, Kendall Ballman 5, Parker Seachrist 3, Braden Hasty 4, Paul Smith 1, Jordan McCabe 5, Logan Brown 2, Frank Schneiderjon 2, Luke Spencer 1, Alec Morrissey 4, Logan Smith 1, Jarrett Jones 2, Gage Franklin 1, Jakob Conrad 2, Dawson Whitten 2, Jett Gillum 1, Mason Hasty 1, Jackson Woelfer 1.

Smith punted six times for 189, averaging just over 31 yards per kick. Danny Hortenstine kicked off three times for 114 yards. Hill returned two kickoffs for 14 yards, Kendall Ballman returned five kicks for 123 yards, and Lucas Vasquez returned a kickoff for 13 yards.

The Hearts were only penalized one time in the game for 10 yards, to seven for 75 yards for Highland.

Garrett Marti had a great passing game for the Bulldogs, hitting on 15 of 21 passes for 360 yards and six touchdowns. Six different teammates caught at least one pass, and four different receivers caught at least one touchdown pass.

Brady Feldmann rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown, while Marti also had a touchdown run among his 39 yards gained.

In addition to the individual records, the Hearts team set a record for most points scored in a season with 438, beating the previous record by 70 points and that record had been set in a 12-game season back in 1987. This year's squad also tied the team record for most points in a game with 63, also set in 1987.

The Hearts say goodbye to 19 seniors, including Jakob Conrad, Braden Hasty, Terrence Hill, Danny Hortenstine, Jarrett Jones, Kody Line, Jordan McCabe, Jacob Miller, Alec Morrissey, Drew Niebrugge, Matthew Robinson, Parker Seachrist, Noah Spencer, Frank Schneiderjon, Ben Schuette, Logan Smith, Paul Smith, Lucas Vasquez and Jackson Woelfer.