Hearts to Close Out Regular Season at Highland

The Effingham Hearts will close out the 2022 regular season Friday night at Highland to take on the Bulldogs. The game will be aired on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. Kickoff will be at 7pm, with pre-game coverage at 6:45pm.

The Hearts turned their season around after losing their first two games, one to the top-rated team in Class 2A in St. Teresa, and the other to Mahomet-Seymour, the #3 rated team in Class 5A. Neither of those teams has lost this season.

Since then, the Hearts have won five of six, the only loss coming in overtime to Mt. Zion. 

Highland is 7-1 on the season and are rated #5 in the state in Class 5A. The Bulldogs beat Washington 54-7, then suffered their only loss to Edwardsville 31-28. Highland since has won over Marion 55-14, Jerseyville 61-19, Troy Triad 35-0, Bethalto Civic Memorial 65-0, Waterloo 49-10, and Mascoutah 56-0. Effingham and Highland have had no common opponents this season.

Win or lose, Hearts Coach Brett Hefner feels his team will make the playoffs. The pairings will be announced around 8pm on Saturday. We will have the pairings on the air and online Saturday night.

Senior quarterback Tanner Pontious leads the Hearts attack. His main targets are Andrew Lotz, Caden Walls, Garrett Walls and Conner Thompson. Sophomore Weldon Dunston has emerged as the leading rusher for the Hearts, along with Pontious and Evan Waymoth. The Hearts' special teams are solid headed by Armando Estrada who kicked his fifth field goal of the season last week and by Pontious' punting.

Here are the Week 9 pairings in our area:

Effingham _____ at Highland _____

Paris _____ at Newton _____

Cumberland _____ at Cerro Gordo-Bement _____

Charleston _____ at Salem _____

Lincoln _____ at Troy Triad _____

Mahomet-Seymour _____ at Bloomington _____

Marion _____ at Mattoon _____

Mt. Zion _____ at Breese Mater Dei _____

Bethalto Civic Memorial _____ at Taylorville _____

Central A&M _____ at Shelbyville _____

Flora _____ at Carmi-White County _____

Olney Richland County _____ at Casey-Westfield ______

Vandalia _____ at Greenville _____

Decatur St. Teresa _____ at Warrensburg-Latham _____