Hearts' Season Comes to a Close in Playoff Opener at Mt. Zion

Effingham High School's football team couldn't come up with any answers in Saturday's IHSA Class 4A playoff opener, traveling to Mt. Zion and falling to the Braves by a 21-2 final.

The game was heard on Classic Hits 979XFM.

Mt. Zion scored a passing touchdown in each of the first three quarters and limited the Flaming Hearts to 126 yards of total offense, avenging a 21-14 Week 8 loss at Klosterman Field just 15 days prior during which EHS never trailed. This time around, Effingham's only points came five seconds into the fourth and final period when the Braves - lined up to punt from their own two yard line - snapped the ball through the back of the end zone for a safety. 

With 49.2 seconds remaining in the opening period, the Braves opened the scoring on a 45-yard pass play from quarterback Makobi Adams to Karson Bollhorst. Bollhorst caught the ball down the right sideline and stayed on his feet long enough to stretch the ball past the pylon and the extra point made it 7-0.

The Braves struck again with just 35.1 seconds showing on the second quarter clock; this time Adams found Brayden Trimble over the middle for a 17-yard TD catch to extend the lead to 14-0 after the PAT.

It was Bollhorst again in the third quarter, catching a 14-yard pass in the end zone with 4:23 on the clock to immediately capitalize on great field position after a muffed punt. Once again, kicker Gabe Shumaker split the uprights and it was 21-0.

EHS had several opportunties over the course of the chilly afternoon to begin drives inside Mt. Zion territory, but was limited to just eight first downs in total. The Hearts never advanced the ball into the Braves' red zone. Mt. Zion outgained EHS 220 yards to 126 on the day, running 53 plays to Effingham's 60.

In stark contrast to his 180-yard outburst against Mt. Zion a couple weeks prior, Weldon Dunston was limited to 27 rushing yards on 17 attempts. While he was bottled up by the Braves' redoubled defensive efforts, he did manage to get up over 1500 rushing yards for his junior season. Senior quarterback Gaige Gillum checked in with 38 yards on 22 attempts; he was sacked once.

Gillum completed 9 of 20 passes for 65 yards with an interception in his final game as Effingham's quarterback; fellow senior Andrew Lotz caught four of those throws for 22 yards, while Brodie Belcher led with 35 yards on his three receptions. Dunston also caught a two-yarder while Colton Webb also grabbed one pass for six yards.

For Mt. Zion, Adams gained 44 yards on 16 attempts; he was sacked three times by an Effingham defense that was solid most of the day and for the most part limited big plays from the explosive Mt. Zion athletes. Trimble rushed for 36 yards on nine tries, while Bollhorts gained 9 yards on his two rushing attempts.

Adams completed 8 of 25 passes for just 131 yards - he came into the game just under 2200 passing yards for the season with 29 touchdowns - but managed three more scoring passes. Trimble had a game-high five receptions for 54 yards and Bollhorst caught three for 66 yards and doubled his TD total for the year with his pair of scores. Trimble's was his 11th receiving touchdown.

Each team turned it over three times, all but one coming in the second half. Effingham committed five penalties for 55 yards, while Mt. Zion struggled with holding calls and racked up 14 flags for 130 yards.

Here are the tackling totals: Wade Bushur, 1 solo, 2 assists; Charlie Ring, 4 solos, 3 assists; Spencer Fox, 6 solos, 2 assists; Michael Love, 1 solo, 1 assist; Zach Donaldson, 5 solos; Nick Martin, 1 solo, 1 assist; Kaden Koeberlein, 3 solos, 1 assist; Logan Kessler, 1 solo; Eli Middendorf, 1 solo, 1 assist; Gaige Gillum, 2 solos.

Effingham's season comes to a close for the second straight year with a 5-5 record. Mt. Zion improves to 8-2 and advances to a second-round meeting with Breese Central; the Cougars shut down Cahokia 19-2 in other Saturday action.