Hearts Blank Lincoln; Other Friday Night High School Football Scores 9-14-2018

It was Lincoln's Homecoming game, but it was Effingham that had the better time as the Hearts shut out the Railsplitters 36-0 Friday night. The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The win moves the Hearts to the .500 mark at 2-2 and improves their record to 2-1 in the Apollo Conference.

The Hearts scored on their first possession of the game as Ivan Angel kicked a 23-yard field goal to make it 3-0 with 6:34 left in the opening period. The points came at the close of a 10 play, 66 yard drive.

Effingham scored twice in the second period, first on a one yard touchdown run by Logan Brown following a 40 yard pass play from Landon Wolfe to Tristin Duncan. The score came with 5:26 remaining in the period. The second score in the quarter came wth 28 seconds remaining before halftime at the end of an 11 play 47 yard drive when Wolfe threw a four-yard pass on a nice rollout to the right to Jacob Briggerman. Beau Hefner was good on the first extra point, but missed to the left on the second one, but Effingham led 16-0 at intermission.

The Hearts also scored twice in the third period. The first score came with 9:02 remaining at the end of a three play 48 yard drive on a 37 yard pass from Wolfe to Duncan. Hefner's extra point try was good to make it 23-0 Hearts. Effingham then scored with 6:19 remaining in the period at the end of a two play 19 yard drive on a pass from Wolfe to Briggerman.

The final Effingham points came with 11:46 left in the game at the end of a nine play 45 yard drive when Kendall Ballman ran it in from 19 yards out and Hefner kicked the extra point to make it 36-0. 

Effingham dominated in all phases of the game. The Hearts picked up 18 first downs to three for Lincoln, and one of theirs was on a penalty.

Effingham gained 354 yards rushing and receiving to just 37 yards for Lincoln. The Railsplitters could not get a ground game going, rushing the ball 32 times for -25 yards. They were successful on seven of 13 pass attempts for 72 yards.

The Hearts punted three times for 112 yards, a 37.3 yard average.

The only blemish was that Effingham was called for nine penalties for 75 yards.

Individually, Kendall Ballman shined in Friday's game. Ballman rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown in just 18 rushes. He caught a 20 yard pass. He also blocked a punt and had a great defensive game.

Also for Effingham: quarterback Landon Wolfe was 10 of 15 passing the ball for 189 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Jacob Briggerman caught four passes for 43 yards. Tristin Duncan had three catches for 87 yards and a touchdown. Jacob Stoneburner caught a 14 yard pass and Jett Gillum had an 11-yard pass reception.

Besides Ballman, Logan Brown rushed 13 times for 36 yards and a touchdown. Landon Wolfe rushed five times for one yard, Wyatt Smith carried the ball five times at the end of the game for six yards. Jacob Stoneburner, who quarterbacked the Hearts in the fourth quarter, covered a fumble for a three yard loss.

Tony Gandolfi was the only Lincoln player to record positive yardage, gaining 17 yards on 11 carries. Lincoln quarterback Noah Funk was 7 of 13 passing for 72 yards with an interception.

For Effingham, special teams play was a key. Dawson Whitten punted three times for 112 yards. Dylan Bushur and Luke Spencer each returned a punt, Bushur for five yards, Spencer for seven yards. Spencer had a 33 yard pass interception. Ivan Angel kicked off seven times for 297 yards. Whitten had a 10 yard kickoff return to start the game.

Effingham heads to Macomb next Friday night at 7:00 in a game you can hear on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. Lincoln plays host to Taylorville.

Here are other scores from Friday night:

(APOLLO TEAMS IN CAPS)

EFFINGHAM 36, LINCOLN 0

MATTOON 36, CHARLESTON 24

TAYLORVILLE 38, MAHOMET-SEYMOUR 26

MT. ZION 55, Macomb 0

Casey-Westfield 42, Flora 8

Newton 56, Lawrenceville 8

Mt. CarmeL 49, Olney Richland County 23

Cumberland 42, Oakland Tri-County 7

Carlinville 49, Pana 12

Vandalia 62, Litchfield 0

Breese Mater Dei 56, Freeburg 28

DuQuoin 41, Carterville 0

Shelbyville 41, Sullivan Okaw-Valley 12

Watseka 30, Oblong 0