Lincoln Calls on Hearts for Homecoming

One of Greg Sapp's favorite football sayings is "football goes fast".

This season is no exception, as Friday night's Homecoming game against Lincoln is Week 7 of the nine-game season. Kickoff is at 7pm at Klosterman Field. Pre-game coverage will begin at 6:45pm on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

What's different about this season is that the Hearts have played themselves back into contention for the playoffs. Two huge road wins back-to-back...27-7 at Taylorville and last week's thrilling 28-27 victory at Mt. Zion...have gotten the Effingham squad to .500 at 3-3. The road doesn't get any easier, but at least the Hearts have given themselves an opportunity at the postseason.

Lincoln won't be an easy opponent. After some 20 seasons of frustration, the Railsplitters are also 3-3 after a disastrous spring season when they went winless. Lincoln pounded Clinton 58-6 on Opening Night, then beat Charleston 14-6. Lincoln then lost three straight...32-16 at Jerseyville, 53-22 at Mahomet-Seymour, and 27-22 to Mt. Zion...but then bounced back with a 35-34 nailbiting win over Mattoon. 

The Hearts started in the opposite direction, losing 42-7 at St. Teresa and 37-7 in the home opener to Mahomet-Seymour. Effingham won at Charleston 42-0 and then suffered their most frustrating loss of the season, 20-14, to Mattoon. Then, though came the wins at Taylorville and Mt. Zion to get back to even on the season. In fact, the Hearts are tied with Mt. Zion for second in the Apollo Conference at 3-2. This is Effingham's final conference game of the season.

Again, it's Homecoming at EHS. The Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned at halftime.

Here are the Week 7 matchups in the area:

LINCOLN _____ at EFFINGHAM _______

CHARLESTON _______ vs MATTOON ________ (AT EIU)

MAHOMET-SEYMOUR ______ at Peoria Richwoods _______

MT. ZION ________ at Collinsville _________

TAYLORVILLE has an open date

Mt. Carmel ______ at Newton _______

Argenta-Oreana ______ at Cumberland _______

Piasa Southwestern _____ at Vandalia ________

St. Teresa ______ at Shelbyville _______

Flora ______ at Sesser-Valier _______

Paris _______ at Olney Richland County _______