Hearts Suffer First Loss of Season at Mater Dei

The Effingham Hearts suffered their first loss of the football season Friday night 35-20 at the hands of the Breese Mater Dei Knights. The game at Breese was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

Effingham scored on their first possession of the game. Running back Weldon Dunston carried the ball 50 yards for a score, completing a three-play, 62-yard driven. Maicol Sefton's extra point made it 7-0 Hearts.

The Knights ended up on their own four yard line to start their next drive, but took the ball 96 yards in five plays highlighted by an 83-yard touchdown catch by Elliott Rackers and the extra point tied the game at 7-7. The Knights then started their next possession at their five and scored four plays later on a 70-yard run by Carter Murphy and the extra point put Mater Dei in front 14-7 and the battle was on. 

A 34-yard field goal by Maicol Sefton drew EHS to within 14-10 at halftime. 

Dunston scored from 25 yards out and the extra point had the Hearts back in front 17-14 with 9:14 in the third quarter, but Mater Dei again flashed a big play offense as Murphy caught a 74-yard pass and moved back in front 21-17, then scored again on a 76 yard touchdown pass to Murphy and Mater Dei extended their lead to 28-17.

The Hearts' Sefton kicked a 28 yard field goal to pull EHS back within 28-20, but a 46 yard pass to Beckett Wade gave Mater Dei their final score and a 15-point win.

Some of the stats don't bear out the final score. Effingham had 15 first downs to 13 for Mater Dei, and Effingham had a 28:00-20:00 time of possession edge. However, Mater Dei had the total yardage edge 489 to 331. To emphasize the big play offense employed by BMD, the Knights completed just six passes, but those completions were good for 324 yards.

Weldon Dunston had another big rushing night for Effingham, carrying the ball 29 times for 186 yards and two touchdowns, but the Hearts had just 25 other yards rushing. Jaxon Bridges completed 9 of 20 passes for 107 yards, while Max Buzzard completed a 13-yard pass in five tries. Kaden Koeberlein caught a 29-yard pass, Maxx Kistler had five catches for 30 yards, Dunston caught an eight yard pass, Wade Bushur had two receptions for 39 yards, and Colton Webb caught a 14-yard pass.

Effingham is now 2-1 on the season, while Mater Dei is 1-2.

The Hearts return home this Friday night to open Apollo Conference play. Mattoon will be the opponent, and it will be Military Appreciation Night