Effingham Flaming Hearts are Apollo Conference Football Champs

The Effingham Flaming Hearts are the Apollo Conference football champions.

Effingham put on a dominating performance Friday in defeating the Mt. Zion Braves 34-21. The Senior Night contest at Klosterman Field was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. We'll have video from the entire game available later this weekend.

Tristin Duncan with an incredible catch, the Senior's final on Klosterman Field. Video by Tyler Repking of Repking Media

The victory leaves the Hearts at 4-0, while Mt. Zion slips to 3-1. Each team has one more contest in the abbreviated season.

The Hearts were dominating in the sense that they controlled the football for 37 of the 48 minutes of play. That was borne out by their scoring drives; a 12-play drive that took more than six minutes, a nine-play drive that took more than three minutes, a 12-play drive that took over five minutes, a 14-play drive consuming more than eight minutes, and a classic 16-play, 92-yard drive that ate up 9:56 in the fourth quarter.

Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. More game photos are located here

Effingham stopped Mt. Zion on their first possession, then scored with 3:47 left in the first quarter on a 16-yard pass play from Nathan Thompson to Tristin Duncan. Beau Hefner's kick made it 7-0. 

Mt. Zion bounced back, though, and made things a little tense. After watching the Hearts take more than six minutes to score, the Braves took the ball at their own 36-yard line and quarterback Ashton Summers threw a touchdown pass to Christian Keyeha, following Effingham's long scoring drive with a 16-second scoring drive of their own. Then, Mt. Zion intercepted Thompson and Frank Tyrolt ran it back 45 yards to give Mt. Zion a 14-7 lead with four seconds left in the first quarter.

From that point, though, it was all Effingham.

Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. More game photos are located here

The Hearts scored on a three-yard run by Chase Woomer, a one-yard run by Jacob Stoneburner, a three-yard run by Trevor Donsbach, and a two-yard run by Stoneburner and Effingham was in front 34-14 with 1:56 remaining in the game. 

Mt. Zion did score on a 29-yard pass reception by Reagan Mason with 20 seconds remaining to conclude the scoring, but the Hearts by then had salted away the win.

Effingham racked up 28 first downs to nine for Mt. Zion and held the Braves to one rushing first down. The Braves gained 22 yards rushing.

Effingham rolled up 263 yards on the ground, with two 100-yard rushers; Chase Woomer with 154 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries, and Trevor Donsbach with 101 yards and a score on 20 carries. Stoneburner made the most of his three yards rushing, scoring twice. Keegan Baker had an 11-yard gain.

Nathan Thompson attempted 11 passes while playing with a hand that might have been broken during the game and completed nine passes for 90 yards and a touchdown with one pick. Tristin Duncan finished with three catches for 51 yards and a score on a wonderful one-handed catch. Woomer had a 15-yard catch, Holden Lewis a seven-yard grab, Austin Herboth two catches for 10 yards, and Edgar Castillo with two catches for seven yards.

Photo by Gary Stanfield of Riviera Records. More game photos are located here

The Hearts amassed 353 yards in total offense on 70 plays, while Mt. Zion finished with 224 yards on 33 plays.

Summers threw for 202 yards for Mt. Zion, going 10 of 24. Mason had seven catches for 98 yards.

Here's the tackle sheet: Gabe Kihne one, Alex Baughman two, Shawn Cochran two including a sack for a nine-yard loss, Noah Jones two, Keegan Baker one, Jacob Stoneburner four, Dalton Fox four, Trevon Benavides one, Jakob Logan one, Parker Wolfe one, and Gunnar Franklin four. Cochran also blocked a field goal attempt and Franklin recovered the loose ball.

Armando Estrada had four kickoffs for 157 yards, while Osvaldo Angel had a kickoff for 45 yards. Keegan Baker had a  10-yard kickoff return, and Austin Herboth fell on an onside kick attempt. Parker Wolfe had a 12-yard punt return.

The Hearts won the conference football championship after winning the boys basketball championship.

Effingham wraps up its season next Friday night at Lincoln. Mt. Zion will finish at Chillicothe IVC.