Things didn’t start out Effingham’s way and it didn’t get better as Effingham lost their season opener to Mater Dei 27-26.
Effingham gave up a touchdown on the opening kickoff to go down 7-0 in the first 14 seconds. Effingham’s first offensive possession ended with a fumble however Mater Dei only got a field goal to go up 10-0 with 2:40 left in the first quarter. Effingham’s next possession ended with another fumble, this time by Terrance Hill but the Effingham defense made the stop. Effingham had a total of 5 turnovers in the game. With 6:20 left in the game Hill was able to break two tackles and score to make it 27-20. Effingham’s defense came up with another big play when Kendall Ballman forced a pick 6, however the extra point was blocked to make it 27-26. Effingham had one final shot as on fourth and 6 Landon Wolfe scrambled for the first but was pushed out of bounds. The refs called him being short of the first down without a measurement, even though he looked to have crossed it.