Hearts Close Regular Season Home Schedule Tonight

The Effingham Hearts will close the regular season home schedule tonight. 

The Hearts will host the Mt. Zion Braves. The game is also the final Apollo Conference battle of the season. Kickoff at Klosterman Field at Washington Savings Bank Stadium will be at 7pm. Pregame coverage will begin at 6:45pm on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The Hearts have their work cut out for them. If they beat the Braves and win at Centralia next Friday night, they would finish the regular season at 5-4 and have a shot at making the playoffs.

Effingham suffered a defeat last week against a quality Mahomet-Seymour team 47-0. The loss left the Hearts with a 2-2 conference record and guaranteed the Bulldogs a conference championship. 

Effingham opened the season with a 31-7 win at Robinson, then lost in overtime to Mt. Carmel 36-30 and to Breese Mater Dei 36-14. The Hearts opened the conference season with a 42-21 win at Mattoon, then lost at Charleston 21-17. The Hearts defeated Taylorville 55-12 before last week's loss at Mahomet. 

After being shut down by the Bulldogs last week, Hearts running back Weldon Dunston is expected to pick up his 1,000th rushing yard Friday.

Here are the Week 8 matchups:

MT. ZION ______ at EFFINGHAM ______

CHARLESTON ______ at TAYLORVILLE ______

MAHOMET-SEYMOUR ______ at MATTOON _______

Newton ______ at Lawrenceville ______

Cumberland ______ at Nokomis _______

Paris ______ at Robinson ______

Mt. Carmel ______ at Marshall ______

Decatur St. Teresa ______ at Breese Mater Dei ______

Mt. Vernon ______ at Centralia ______

Shelbyville ______ at Clinton _______

Olney Richland County ______ at Casey-Westfield ______

Flora _______ at Dupo _______

Vandalia ______ at Gillespie ______