Hearts Face Two-Week Road Trip to Taylorville, Mt. Zion

Things are not getting any easier for the Effingham Hearts as they begin a two-week road trip to Taylorville and Mt. Zion.

The Hearts will take on the Tornadoes Friday night for the first time in two seasons. The teams did not play in the spring season due to COVID-19 problems for Taylorville.

Game time is 7pm. Pre-game coverage will begin at 6:45pm on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Effingham lost its first two games, 42-7 at Decatur St. Teresa and 37-7 in the home opener to Mahomet-Seymour. The Hearts then traveled to Charleston and posted a 42-0 win over the Trojans, then lost a tough 20-14 contest to Mattoon last Friday night. That leaves Effingham at 1-3 on the season, 1-2 in Apollo Conference play.

Taylorville opened with back-to-back wins, 13-0 at home over Mt. Vernon and and 26-14 at Elgin St. Edward. The past two weeks have not been as kind to the Tornadoes, losing 12-9 to Mattoon at EIU's O'Brien Stadium and 55-14 at Mt. Zion. So, Taylorville is 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the Apollo. 

Turnovers played a huge roll in last week's Hearts game against Mattoon, as the teams combined for 10 of them. 

The Hearts could still make the playoffs, but they've left themselves very little margin for error. After this two-week road trip, Effingham comes to host Lincoln for Homecoming, then finish up the regular season vs. Breese Mater Dei and Highland. 

Here are the matchups for Week Four:

EFFINGHAM _____ at TAYLORVILLE _____

MAHOMET-SEYMOUR _____ at CHARLESTON ______

MT. ZION _____ at LINCOLN ______

Collinsville _____ at MATTOON ______

Newton ______ at Red Hill ______

Cumberland _____ at Villa Grove ______

Johnston City _____ at Flora ______

Gillespie ______ at Vandalia ______

Olney Richland County ______ at Marshall ______