Hearts Fall to Mater Dei 36-14

The Effingham Hearts fell to Breese Mater Dei 36-14 in high school football Friday night.

The convincing win by the Knights was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Mater Dei scored four times before the Hearts put points on the board. The Knights got a 25-yard field goal from Markus Kehrer with 6:50 left in the first quarter, then quarterback Trenton Zeeb's 11-yard run made it 9-0 with 4:05 remaining in the period.

In the second quarter, a two-yard pass to Garrick Winkeler with 10:33 remaining and a 34-yard pass to Winkeler with 3:48 remaining made it 22-0 before the Hearts staged a four-play, 89-yard drive highlighted by a 48-yard pass from Gaige Gillum to Andrew Lotz and Maicol Sefton's extra point made it 22-7 with 2:33 left before halftime.

Mater Dei opened the second half scoring with a 15-yard scoring pass to Brock Revermann with 8:51 left in the third period and an extra point to move back ahead 29-7.

The Hearts scored for the last time with 6:28 left in the third period on a four-play, 24-yard drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Weldon Dunston and Sefton's extra point to make it 29-14. 

However, the Knights scored again on an 18-yard pass play to Gabe Schlimme with 11:51 left in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring and the Hearts really never threatened after that point.

Effingham did have the edge in the ground game, rushing for 115 yards on 25 plays, to 46 yards for Mater Dei on 31 plays.

The passing game was another story, as Mater Dei went 19 of 30 for 260 yards and four touchdowns. The Hearts picked up just 108 passing yards on 9 of 25 attempts with one touchdown. Mater Dei picked up 16 first downs to nine for Effingham.

Dunston finished with 86 yards rushing for the Hearts on 18 carries including a touchdown Gillum rushed six times for 26 yards, and Brodie Belcher carried once for three yards.

Gillum was 9 of 25 passing for 108 yards. Lotz had five grabs for 90 yards and a score, Belcher had three catches for 16 yards, and Nolan Fearday caught a two-yard pass.

Mater Dei's Zeeb was 19 of 30 passing for 260 yards, with Winkeler catching nine passes for 135 yards.

Also for Effingham, Sefton punted five times for 154 yards, Wade Bushur snagged an interception and ran it back 31 yards, Sefton kicked off three times for 158 yards, and Dunston had a 15-yard kickoff return while Jacob Weaver returned six kickoffs for 109 yards.

As far as the tackle sheet, here are the totals for the Hearts...Hayden Wendling one, Spencer Fox 10, Michael Love six, Jacob Weaver two, Maddox Burner one, Kayden Mietzner seven, Kaden Koeberlein seven, Wade Bushur one, Zach Donaldson nine, Gaige Gillum one, Eli Middendorff seven, Nick Martin one, Charlie Ring nine, Max Buzzard one, and Brock Meltabarger one. 

Effingham dropped to 1-2 on the season, while Mater Dei is now 2-1. The Hearts open Apollo Conference play next Friday at Mattoon.