Hearts Win Seventh Straight; Friday Night Football Scores 10-19-2018

The Effingham Hearts closed out the 2018 football regular season Friday night with their seventh straight win, beating Carterville 46-26 on Senior Night at Klosterman Field. The game was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The win leaves the Hearts at 7-2 and with a shot at getting a home game next week in the first round of the playoffs. The IHSA will announce the pairings for the first round Saturday night at 8:00.

Carterville, despite finishing 3-6 this season, was a tough customer. The Hearts scored on the first series of the game, the score coming with 7:56 remaining in the first quarter on a 24-yard touchdown run by Kendall Ballman. Carterville responded, though, scoring with 4:17 left in the opening quarter on a seven-yard run by quarterback Keaton Pestka. The made extra point put Carterville ahead for the only point in the game, 7-6. 

Effingham struck back with 1:49 left in the opening quarter on a four-yard run by Ballman to regain the lead 13-7. The Hearts extended the lead to 20-7 with 8:07 remaining in the second quarter on a 10-yard touchdown run by Logan Brown. On the ensuing kickoff, though, Carterville ran it back 90 yards to pull back within 20-13.

Effingham regained the momentum with 5:35 left in the half when Jett Gillum caught a 22-yard pass from Landon Wolfe to make it 26-13, but Carterville started the scoring after intermission on an 11-yard run by Pestka to move back within 26-20. The Hearts quickly responded, though, after getting good field position. Ballman ran the first play from scrimmage 47 yards for his third score of the night to make it 32-20.

Carterville's last points came with 4:05 left in the third quarter on a six-yard touchdown run by Colin Laczynski to close within 32-26, but the Hearts scored the final two touchdowns on a four-yard run by Brown with 9:07 left in the game to make it 39-26 and on a seven-yard pass from Wolfe to Cameron Kalber in the back of the end zone to account for the 46-26 final score.

Effingham rolled up a whopping 547 yards in offense, 418 yards on the ground and 129 yards through the air. The Hearts registered 29 first downs to 15 for Carterville. Effingham ran 76 plays to 46 for Carterville, and had a time of possession margin of 29:02 to 18:58. 

Kendall Ballman rushed for 232 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns. Ballman broke the 200-yard mark for the second straight game. Logan Brown also had a great night with 124 yards rushing on 17 carries and two scores. Other rushers: Landon Wolfe 7 carries for 10 yards, Ethan Kiser four carries for 19 yards, Jacob Stoneburner two carries for 19 yards, and Nate Shackelford one rush for 14 yards.

Wolfe finished 9 of 22 passing for 129 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Cameron Kalber had three catches for 52 yards and a score, Dylan Bushur three receptions for 35 yards, Jett Gillum a 22-yard touchdown catch, and Noah Allen and Shackelford each a 10-yard catch.

Carterville quarterback Keaton Petska rushed 20 times for 151 yards and two scores, while Colin Laczynski rushed 16 times for 90 yards and a score. Petska completed four of six passes for 29 yards.

Other numbers for Effingham: Dawson Whitten punted once for 45 yards; Dylan Bushur had a punt return for no gain; Ivan Angel had eight kickoffs for 383 yards; Nate Shackelford had two kickoff returns for 61 yards and Ethan Kiser had one for 17 yards; and Kaleb Kihne, Parker Wolfe and Austin Herboth each had fumble recoveries.

Friday was Senior Night for cheerleaders Destinie Anne Brown and Payton Koester and players Noah Allen, Kendall Ballman, Landon Wolfe, Dylan Bushur, Ethan Kiser, Kaleb Kihne, Gage Franklin, Joey Duncan, Reese Evans, Jason Bowlin, Evan Evans and Matthew Hites.

Here are the Week 9 scores:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Effingham 46, Carterville 26

Newton 44, Marshall 13

Cumberland 35, Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond 7

Highland  54, Charleston 7

Freeburg 48, Lincoln 27

Mattoon 26, Marion 23

Mt. Zion 19, Troy Triad 15

Taylorville 42, Bethalto Civic Memorial 12

Breese Mater Dei 55, Waterloo 27

Red Hill 44, Casey-Westfield 21

Paris 58, Flora 16

Olney Richland County 35, Robinson 13

Pana 42, Vandalia 27

St. Teresa 63, Shelbyville 8

Salem 42, Massac County 8

Argenta-Oreana 64, Oblong 10