The Effingham Hearts made the trip down south to take on the Centralia Orphans with a potential playoff spot on the line. When all was said and done, the Hearts were victorious and had a joyful bus ride back into town. With Effingham’s highest scoring output of the season, the Hearts win a wild one 61-34 and are now playoff eligible with a 5-4 record. Effingham shouldn’t have to sweat anything on Saturday with a projected 47 playoff points.
The game started off with the scoreboard operator’s fingers getting a workout pushing all the point buttons, a combined 61 points were scored in the first half.
Centralia got it going in style a 55 yard pass on the first play of the game from quarterback Daryle Jones to Kalveric Bratton. That would eventually led to the first points on the board for the Orphans, when Jones finished things off from 9 yards out to make it 7-0. Effingham would respond in a big way scoring 28 straight points to take a commanding lead. During that scoring outburst; Weldon Dunston would pick up a pair of touchdowns. Gaige Gillum would also hit on some long air strikes, a 28 yarder to Andrew Lotz (as Effinghams’ Kayden Mietzner recovered a fumbled kickoff return). The other was a 38 yarder to Brodie Belcher. Not to be completely over shadowed, the Orphans would connect on some deep passes as well. Jones would hook up with Xavier Koch on two touchdown passes from 77 and 39 yards out. Dunston would find the end zone for the fourth time in the first half with a 33 yarder. That score would make it 41-20 at half time in the favor of the Hearts.
Things started to calm down in the second half, Dunston would add a fifth rushing touchdown of the game. With a little over three minutes to go in the 3rd quarter and that would be all the scoring for that quarter.
Centralia would add a couple more scores to their total. In the fourth, Jones snuck it in from one yard out to finish off a eight play drive. Jones would also connect with Cam Tomlianovich for a 32 yard score.
Dunston would not stop at five touchdowns. In the fourth quarter Weldon found the end zone a sixth time to tie a school record for most rushing touchdowns in a game. Dunston now joins Phil Freimuth, Nick Jones (who did it twice), Zach Miller and Terrence Hill with six rushing touchdowns in a single game.
Effingham would score one more time, with Hunter Holland running into the end zone for his first career varsity touchdown. Hollands’ TD made it the 61-34 final score.
Effingham is now playoff eligible and await their fate on Saturday night as the brackets are releveled around 8;15 P.M. Centralia ends their season 2-7. Tune into the Starting Lineup Playoff Extravaganza Show on Saturday from 7 to 9:00 P.M on 98.9 The Game.
Hear Coach Hefner final thoughts on tonight’s game
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | ||
EHS | 21 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 61 |
CHS | 7 | 13 | 0 | 14 | 34 |
Scoring Summary (Here We Go)
1st Quarter 10:13 Jones 9 yd TD Run (Halut PAT Good) 7-0
1st Quarter 9:04 Dunston 11 yd TD Run (Sefton PAT Good) 7-7
1st Quarter 7:39 Gillum-Lotz 28 yd TD Pass (Sefton PAT Good) 14-7
1st Quarter 249 Gillum-Belcher 38 yd TD Pass (Sefton PAT Good) 21-7
2nd Quarter 7:32 Dunston 8 yd TD Run (Sefton PAT Good) 28-7
2nd Quarter 7:14 Jones-Koch 77 yd TD Pass (Halut PAT No Good) 28-13
2nd Quarter 5:50 Dunston 31 yd TD Run (Sefton PAT No Good) 34-13
2nd Quarter Jones-Koch 39 yd TD Pass (Halut PAT Good) 34-20
2nd Quarter 43.9 Dunston 33 yd TD Run (Sefton PAT Good) 41-20
3rd Quarter 3:14 Dunston 2 yd TD Run (Sefton PAT Good) 48-20
4th Quarter 10:51 Jones 1 yd TD Run (Halut PAT Good) 48-27
4th Quarter Dunston 4 yd TD Run (Sefton PAT No Good) 54-27
4th Quarter Jones-Tomlianovich (Halut PAT Good) 54-34
4th Quarter Holland 17 yd TD Run (Sefton PAT Good) 61-34
Effingham Stats
Gillum 11/15 219 yards 2 TDs 10 carries 40 yards
Dunston 38 carries 292 yards 6 TDs
Lotz 2 receptions 62 yards 1 TD
Belcher 4 receptions 105 yards 1 TD
Reed 2 receptions 40 yards
Webb 1 receptions 9 yards
Meltabarger 1 reception 2 yards
Buckels 2 carries 17 yards
Holland 1 carry 17 yards 1 TD
Centralia Stats
Jones 16/24 374 yards 3 TDs 9 carries 41 yards 2 TDs
Koch 8 receptions 206 yards 2 TDs
Tomlianovich 4 receptions 102 yards 1 TD
Bratton 2 receptions 63 yards 1 carry -4 yards
Morgan 4 carries -2 yards
Straton 3 carries 25 yards
Johnson 1 carry 10 yards
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