Hearts Blast Freeburg to Finish Regular Season 8-1; Learn Playoff Opponent Saturday Night

The Effingham Hearts played playoff-caliber football in the first half Friday night on their way to a 42-20 victory over the Freeburg Midgets. The Senior Night contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Effingham rolled to a 42-0 halftime lead and then gave the non-starters a chance to play during a continuous clock second half. The win meant the Hearts finished the regular season with an 8-1 record, all but guaranteeing a first round home playoff game next weekend. The Illinois High School Association will announce the first round pairings Saturday night. We will share the information online and on the radio as soon as it's available.

Freeburg got the opening kick, but turned the ball over on an interception on their first play from scrimmage. The Hearts scored two plays later on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Shackelford to Jett Gillum and the kick made it 7-0. Effingham got the ball back 90 seconds later at their own 44 and scored on the first play from scrimmage on a 56-yard touchdown pass from Shackelford to Tristin Duncan. The kick made it 14-0.

The Hearts scored again with 6:29 left in the opening period when they got the ball at Freeburg's 43 and Shackelford threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Duncan. With the kick it was 21-0. The Hearts scored one more time in the first quarter with 2:26 remaining when they got the ball on Freeburg's 21 and Shackelford threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Kalber. With the kick it was 28-0 Hearts and still in the first period.

Effingham scored two more times, both in the second quarter.

The Hearts got the ball at Freeburg's 37 yard line and on the fourth play from scrimmage, Shackelford threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Briggerman. at the 4:00 mark. Effingham then staged its longest drive of the night, going 65 yards in seven plays highlighted by Shackelford's eight-yard pass to Gillum. Both extra points were good and the Hearts were up 42-0 at halftime.

Freeburg scored a touchdown in the third quarter and twice in the fourth quarter to account for the final score.

Effingham rolled up 14 first downs, nine by passing, rushed for 78 yards on 28 carries, and threw for 203 yards on 10 of 18 attempts. That's a total of 281 yards on 46 plays, with the vast majority of that in the first half. Freeburg netted 198 yards on 47 plays, the vast majority of that in the second half. Freeburg had 12 first downs, all in the second half. They rushed 33 times for 147 yards and were 4 of 14 passing for 51 yards with three interceptions.

Shackelford tied a single game record with six touchdown passes, equaling Josh Douthit's performance against St. Jacob Triad in 1999 and Brandon Pankau's performance against Robinson in 2005.

Duncan also set two more receiving records; breaking Logan Ellington's single season receiving yardage, which stood at 1,032 in 2007, and breaking Steve Klosterman's record for number of receptions in a season, which was 51 set in 1967.

Shackelford finished 10 of 17 for 203 yards and the six touchdowns, and that was all accomplished in the first half; Shackelford didn't play after intermission.

To recap the receiving, Gillum had two touchdown catches for a total of 29 yards; Duncan had two touchdowns among four receptions for 140 yards; Cameron Kalber caught a 10-yard touchdown pass; Holden Lewis caught a 10-yard pass; and Jacob Briggerman had two receptions for 14 yards including a touchdown catch.

Chase Woomer led the Hearts rushers with 55 yards on 10 carries; Shackelford gained 29 yards on five carries; Gillum recovered a fumble so lost 11 yards; Trevor Donsbach ran for six yards on six rushes; and Keegan Baker gained one yard on five rushes.

Also for Effingham: Dawson Whitten punted four times for 108 yards; Parker Wolfe had a 13-yard punt return but also pulled down three interceptions for a total of 33 yards; Ivan Angel kicked off six times for 320 yards; and Trevor Donsbach had two kickoff returns for 47 yards.

Brady Schmitz, running late in the game, led Freeburg in rushing with 62 yards on four carries. Levi Ball rushed twice for 19 yards; Brauc Browning caught a 28-yard touchdown pass and Griffin Range caught a four-yard touchdown pass. Range was two-for-four passing for 19 yards with an interception, while Dylan Huschle was two-for-10 for 32 yards and two scores with two interceptions.

As far as the tackle sheet for Effingham: Parker Wolfe two; Jakob Logan two; Trevon Benavides three; Mason Hasty six including a sack for a two-yard loss; Logan Brown two; Hayvin Prather three; Jacob Stoneburner three; Austin Herboth one; Gunnar Franklin three; Dawson Whitten three including a sack for a seven-yard loss; Tristen Elkin four including one sack for a one-yard loss; Alex Baughman one; Payton Simmons two; Shawn Cochran two; Gabe Kihne three; Bryce Ikemire one; Noah Jones two; Emma Kessler one; Dalton Fox two.