Hearts Win Third Straight; Other Friday Night H.S. Football Scores 9-21-2018

The Effingham Hearts won their third straight game Friday night, downing the host Bombers 54-19 at Macomb. The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.

The Hearts' aerial attack was something to see, as senior quarterback Landon Wolfe threw for 330 yards and five touchdowns. Wolfe completed 15-of-21 passes. The passing game could've been even more impressive, but the Hearts shut down the air game midway through the third quarter due to their big lead in the contest.

Effingham scored three minutes into the game on an eight-play, 84-yard drive capped by a 54-yard touchdown pass to Tristin Duncan. After coming up with the ball on the Macomb 14, the Hearts scored five plays later on a pass to Kollin Waymoth with 4:39 left in the period.

That's when Macomb had its best moments of the game, though. The Bombers scored on a 15-yard pass from V.J. Lane to John Ogle with 2:41 remaining, then scored again with 25 seconds remaining in the quarter on a 28-yard pass to Evis Campbell to pull within 14-13.

The Hearts came back to score twice in the second quarter, once on a two-yard run by Logan Brown with 10:47 remaining, the other on a 60-yard pass to Duncan with 4:21 left to make it 28-13. 

Macomb, though, scored its final points of the night with 49 seconds left before halftime on a two-yard pass to Evis Campbell to pull back within 28-19. Effingham's biggest drive of the night might have been what followed, though. The Hearts got the ball with 49 seconds left before halftime and instead of sitting on the ball and heading for the locker room, staged a seven-play, 63-yard drive that culminated with a six-yard pass to Duncan to push the lead to 34-19 with less than a second remaining in the half.

It was all Effingham in the second half. The Hearts scored on a 33-yard run by Kendall Ballman with 10:02 left in the third quarter, hit for the big strike one more time on a 71-yard pass from Wolfe to Duncan with 7:37 remaining in the period, and got their last points when a high snap went over the head of the Macomb punter. The Hearts' Gage Franklin scooped up the ball and took it into the end zone to make it 54-19. From that point, the Hearts ran the ball utilizing sophomore Jakob Logan almost exclusively. Macomb was unable to connect when they had the ball, and even committed a couple of turnovers in the process.

While Wolfe had a huge night passing the ball, Duncan had a huge night on the other end, catching seven passes for 264 yards and four touchdowns. Six players caught a pass for the Hearts; Jacob Stoneburner two for 22 yards, Jett Gillum one for 10 yards, Kollin Waymoth one for five yards and a touchdown, Cameron Kalber two for 13 yards, and Dylan Bushur two for 26 yards.

As for the Hearts' ground game, Logan led the way with 78 yards gained on 14 carries. Kendall Ballman rushed six times for 48 yards and a touchdown, and Logan Brown carried eight times for 34 yards and a score. Wolfe rushed twice for two yards, Ethan Kiser carried once for four yards, and Jacob Stoneburner took a knee twice from the victory formation for minus four yards.

Special teams did their job again. Ivan Angel had nine kickoffs for 394 yards. Logan Brown had thre kickoff returns for 69 yards and Jett Gillum returned one for 11 yards. Dawson Whitten punted four times for 121 yards including a 50-yarder. Kendall Ballman returned a punt for 68 yards, and Luke Spencer and Parker Wolfe each grabbed an interception, to go along with Gage Franklin's fumble recovery that turned into a touchdown.

Effingham ended with 492 yards rushing and receiving; 330 through the air, 162 yards on the ground. Macomb had 287 yards rushing and receiving, only 74 yards after halftime, though.

For Macomb, Bryan Farkas rushed 18 times for 93 yards. Lane attempted a whopping 44 passes, completing 23 for 233 yards and three touchdowns. Evis Campbell caught 11 passes for 139 yards and two scores, and John Ogle had seven catches for 73 yards and a touchdown.

Effingham is now 3-2, while Macomb is 2-3. The Hearts wrap up their three-game road trip next Friday night, heading back into Apollo Conference action at Mahomet-Seymour. Effingham is 2-1 in conference play. Game time is 7pm. We'll have the game on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

High School Football

(APOLLO CONFERENCE SCHOOLS IN CAPS)

EFFINGHAM 54, Macomb 19

MT. ZION 23, CHARLESTON 6

TAYLORVILLE 43, LINCOLN 26

MATTOON 31, MAHOMET-SEYMOUR 28

Breese Mater Dei 33, Breese Central 7

Anna-Jonesboro 28, Carterville 14

Red Hill 30, Newton 6

Cumberland 48, Villa Grove-Heritage 20

Pana 41, Staunton 13

Vandalia 48, Piasa Southwestern 14

Casey-Westfield 40, Robinson 0

Flora 26, Lawrenceville 8

Olney Richland County 50, Marshall 14

Warrensburg-Latham 42, Shelbyville 14

Salem 28, Trenton Wesclin 25

Oblong 41, Martinsville 20

Paris 63, Farmer City 0