VIDEO: Hearts Smash Paris, Set Up Showdown w/Mattoon Next Friday Night

We apologize that some of this week's video is shaky. We had very limited space to film at Paris.

The Effingham Hearts spotted Paris an early touchdown, then controlled the game the rest of the way, winning over the Tigers 41-7 in the last meeting ever between the two teams.  The contest was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

It was the third straight win for the Hearts, pushing them to 3-0 in Apollo Conference play and 3-3 overall.

Paris scored first on a one-yard touchdown run by Hunter Morris to cap a 10-play, 51-yard drive that came with 6:08 left in the first quarter. 

The Hearts took over from there, though.  Effingham tied the game with 4:27 left in the first quarter on a four-play, 49-yard drive capped by Zach Miller's 24-yard touchdown run and Michael Carie's extra point kick. 

The Hearts took the lead with 57 seconds left before halftime when Miller took the ball 96 yards for a score on the first play of the series after the Tigers thought they had buried EHS inside their five-yard line.

Effingham scored with 8:03 left in the second quarter at the end of a six-play, 77-yard drive when Miller scored from 21 yards out and Carie's kick made it 21-7.  The Hearts again scored with 4:10 left in the first half when Wolff kept the ball and sneaked from nine yards out into the end zone to cap a seven-play, 46-yard drive.

Effingham scored with 5:11 left in the third quarter to complete a drive that began on Paris' 10-yard line after a tremendous punt return by Marcus Robinson.  The two-play drive ended with a touchdown pass from Wolff to Carter Hayes.  The extra point try was blocked but the Hearts were up 34-7.

The final score came with 11:05 left in the game when Tyler Myers scored from eight yards out.  Carie's extra point kick was good to conclude the scoring.

As usual, the opponent ran more plays than the Hearts, but the Hearts ended up with the most points.  Paris ran 69 plays to 48 for Effingham and picked up 16 first down as compared to 15 for the Hearts.  Effingham, though, picked up 409 total yards, 344 on the ground and 65 yards through the air to post the victory.  Paris totaled 263 yards rushing and receiving.

Zach Miller, who is battling a bad toe, didn't let it show, gaining 178 yards rushing and scoring three touchdowns, and that was without playing in the second half.  Trent Barnhart gained 71 yards on seven carries, Tyler Myers picked up 49 yards and a touchdown on five carries, Avery Brooks rushed six times for 24 yards, Billy Arndt carried twice for 12 yards, and Wolff gained 10 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

Wolff attempted just 12 passes and completed five of them for 65 yards and a touchdown.  Carter Hayes caught three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown, Billy Arndt caught a 24-yard pass, and Marcus Robinson grabbed a seven-yard completion.

For Paris, quarterback Riley Spencer attempted 31 passes and completed 14 of them for a total of 162 yards with two interceptions.  Hunter Morris led Paris in rushing, gaining 76 yards on 20 carries.

Michael Carie had a big game with six punts for 217 yards and six kickoffs for 324 yards.  Matt Wohltman and Dylan Depoister grabbed interceptions.

On the tackle sheet, Travis Durbin led the Hearts with 16 stops including four solo tackles.  Others totals: Drew Vasquez 9 including three solo stops, Blaine Koester 7 with one solo, Payton Bushue, Matt Wohltman, Noah Hagen, Brandon Loy and Wyatt Kahley 5 each with Wohltman's all solo stops, Bushue, Hagen and Loy each with a solo tackle, Billy Arndt, Joe Nieman and Khye Heuerman each with four tackles including two solo stops by Heuerman, Marcus Robinson and Trevor Murphy with three including one solo tackle for Robinson, Griffin Paige, Trent Barnhart, Evan Boggs, Alec Stevenson, Jordan Coleman, Quentin Cunningham and Noah Lohman with two each including two solos for Barnhart, one for Boggs, one for Stevenson and one for Cunningham, and one stop each for Grant Piggush and Dylan Depoister with each of those being solo tackles.

Mattoon won 56-29 over Salem to also improve to 3-0 in Apollo Conference setting up a clash for the top spot in the conference next Friday night.  It will also be Senior Night and Real Men Wear Pink Night for 2013.  Kickoff will be 7pm and a big crowd is expected.  You can hear the action on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.