Hearts Win Fifth Straight; Friday Night Football Scores - 10-5-2018

After a tense first half, the Effingham Hearts took control of their contest against the Charleston Trojans after intermission, posting a 56-34 victory. The Apollo Conference win came on Homecoming for the Hearts. The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The teams traded touchdowns five times before Effingham scored the final three touchdowns to seal the win.

The Hearts scored on a 48-yard pass from Landon Wolfe to Tristan Duncan, a 10-yard pass to Jacob Stoneburner, an eight-yard run by Kendall Ballman, an 83-yard kickoff return by Ballman, a 56-yard pass to Nate Shackelford, a 61-yard pass to Shackelford, a 10-yard run by Logan Brown, and a one-yard run by Ballman. The last points were scored with 10:35 still remaining in the game.

Already Effingham's all-time career passing yardage leader, senior Landon Wolfe added to his stats, completing 12 of 17 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns with one pick. Wolfe is now knocking on the door of 3,000 passing yards in his career.

Shackelford caught the two touchdowns totaling 117 yards. Dylan Bushur caught three passes for 48 yards, Cameron Kalber caught three passes for 28 yards, Duncan had the 48-yard touchdown grab and Stoneburner caught the 10-yard scoring pass, Jacob Briggerman had a 28-yard catch, and Kollin Waymoth had a 10-yard grab.

Ballman led the ground attack, carrying 18 times for 116 yards and two scores. Jakob Logan had eight carries for 44 yards, Brown returned from injury to carry three times for 18 yards and a touchdown, Stoneburner had a 10-yard carry, Ethan Kiser had two carries for 13 yards, Wolfe had three rushes for two yards, punter Dawson Whitten had a blocked punt that cost him 26 yards but carried once for eight yards, and backup quarterback Nathan Thompson took the knee twice at game's end for minus four yards.

Effingham ran 56 plays to 50 for Charleston, gained 470 yards rushing and receiving (289 through the air, 181 on the ground), and picked up 23 first downs to 13 for Charleston.

Ivan Angel had nine kickoffs for 393 yards, Kendall Ballman had four kickoff returns for 150 yards and a touchdown, Shackelford had one return for 13 yards, and Luke Spencer had one return for six yards.

Nick Sweeney led Charleston with 87 yards rushing. Trojans quarterback Dalton Haworth was six of 12 passing for 63 yards and two scores. Nick Sweeney and Taylor Edwards caught the touchdown passes. Haworth, Sweeney and Brayden Doyle rushed for touchdowns for Charleston.

Effingham is now 5-2 on the season, 4-1 in the Apollo Conference. The Hearts play their final conference game and final road game of the regular season next Friday night at Mattoon. The Green Wave are also 5-2 after a loss Friday against Taylorville. Game time is 7pm on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

With the fifth win, the Hearts are now playoff-eligible. A win in either of the two remaining games would make the Hearts a lock for a playoff berth.

Here are the Week 7 scores:

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

(APOLLO CONFERENCE TEAMS IN CAPS)

EFFINGHAM 56, CHARLESTON 34

Woodstock North 41, LINCOLN 6

MT. ZION 27, MAHOMET-SEYMOUR 12

TAYLORVILLE 54, MATTOON 17

Newton 48, Flora 16

Casey-Westfield 59, Kentland, Indiana 6

Paris 42, Olney Richland County 27

Granite City 39, Breese Mater Dei 27

Carterville 49, Sparta 26

Greenville 26, Hillsboro 20

Carlinville 64, Vandalia 28

Pana 37, Piasa Southwestern 6

Shelbyville 36, Macon Meridian 20

Salem 15, Carlyle 6

Villa Grove 24, Oblong 14