Taylorville Pounds Hearts; Other Friday 8-31-2018 H.S. Football Scores

The Taylorville Tornadoes threw for 571 yards and six touchdowns in clobbering the Effingham Hearts 64-20 Friday night. The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

It was the Apollo Conference opener for both schools.

Ironically, the Hearts opened the scoring Friday. Kendall Ballman intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards to give Effingham a 7-0 lead. 

Taylorville scored the next three touchdowns, though; on a 23-yard pass play from Brandon Odam to Justin Wright, on a five-yard run by Riley Buschon, and on a 97-yard pass from Odam to Yemi Odugbesan, and led 19-7 at halftime.

The Hearts scored out of the gate to start the second half on a six-yard run by Ballman to pull within 19-14, but Taylorville twice on a 74-yard pass play to Odugbesan and a 31-yard run by Austin Herkert to make it 35-14.

Effingham scored its final points following a more than half-hour lightning delay in the third quarter on a 25-yard run by Logan Brown to make it 35-20 and then pinned Taylorville on their one-yard line, but an 82-yard pass play from Odam to Wright made the score 43-20, the first of four touchdowns Taylorville would score in the fourth quarter. They also scored on a 67-yard pass play to Odugbesan, a 28-yard fumble recovery by Cole Repscher, and a five-yard pass reception by Blake Donnan to account for the final score.

Effingham did roll up 330 yards rushing and receiving; 169 yards on the ground, 161 yards through the air. Taylorville racked up 712 yards; 571 yards through the air, 141 yards on the ground.

Effingham registered 18 first downs to 26 for Taylorville, and ran 62 plays to 65 for Taylorville.

Effingham committed seven fumbles and lost three of those and threw an interception. Taylorville fumbled twice and lost one and threw an interception that led to a touchdown.

Effingham's rushing game saw Logan Brown gain 61 yards on 14 carries including one touchdown, Kendall Ballman gained 31 yards and a touchdown on six carries, and Landon Wolfe rushed seven times for 54 yards.

Wolfe attempted 27 passes, completing 15 for 161 yards. Tristan Duncan caught three passes for 36 yards, Dylan Bushur had two catches for 13 yards, Jacob Stoneburner caught an 11-yard pass, Nate Shackelford caught a 12-yard pass, Cameron Kalber had six catches for 58 yards, and Kollin Waymoth caught a 30-yard pass.

Dawson Whitten had a nice night punting the ball for the Hearts, kicking five times for 219 yards, or 43.8 yards/punt. Ivan Angel averaged just under 41 yards per kickoff.

Odam threw for 558 yards for Taylorville, completing 20 of 28 passes for five touchdowns. Odegbesan caught 10 passes for 335 yards, and Justin Wright had five six catches for 198 yards.

Effingham completes its three-game homestand to start the season next Friday night playing host to the Mt. Zion Braves in Apollo Conference action. Hear next week's game at 7pm Friday on KJ Country 102.3 and www.kjcountry.com due to Cruise Night music on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

High School Football Scores (Apollo Conference schools in CAPS)

TAYLORVILLE 64, EFFINGHAM 20

MAHOMET-SEYMOUR 49, CHARLESTON 20

MT. ZION 13, LINCOLN 3

Mascoutah 42, MATTOON 7

Newton 49, Sullivan-Okaw Valley 21

Cumberland 49, Fithian Oakwood 46

Cerro Gordo-Bement  45, Shelbyville 22

Paris 33, Casey-Westfield 9

Marshall 13, Flora 8, 4th quarter - postponed until 1:00pm Saturday 9/1/2018

Olney Richland County 54, Lawrenceville 8

Vandalia 41, Hillsboro 6

Pana 55, Roxana 6

Breese Mater Dei 50, Alton Marquette 14

Macomb 32, Canton 28

Oblong 21, Farmer City 0

Breese Central 34, Salem 13

Tuscola 34, Arcola 0