Hearts Win; Other High School Football 10-7-22

Photo by Loker Photography of Effingham

The Effingham Flaming Hearts kept their football playoff hopes alive Friday night with a 47-0 whitewashing of the Lincoln Railsplitters. The game at Lincoln was heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com. 

The win moves the Hearts to 4-3 for all games and closes their conference record for 2022 at 4-2. The Hearts would become playoff-eligible with a fifth win, with games remaining against Breese Mater Dei and at Highland.

Weldon Dunston had a big night for the Hearts, scoring four touchdowns on a 24-yard run, a four-yard run, a seven-yard carry and a three-yard run. Effingham also scored on an 11-yard pass play from Tanner Pontious to Conner Thompson and a three-yard pass to Colton Loy. The final score came on a blocked punt by Logan Heil, when Heil fell on the ball in the end zone. The Hearts staged scoring drives of 63, 56, 28, 75, 75 and 70 yards.

Effingham rolled up 408 yards in total net offense on 58 plays. 262 yards were gained on the ground, 146 yards through the air. The Hearts also picked up 23 first downs, 17 by rushing. Lincoln was held to 106 net yards on 46 plays. 98 of those yards were through the air, just eight yards on the ground.

Dunston scored those four touchdowns on 200 yards in rushing on 34 carries. Pontious gained 51 yards on five carries. Muhammad Freeman rushed 18 yards on five carries, and Gaige Gillum had two rushes for three yards.

Pontious completed eight of 12 passes for 136 yards with two touchdowns. Andrew Lotz had a 14-yard catch, Kaden Koeberlein three grabs for 50 yards, Thompson the 11-yard touchdown catch, Garrett Wolfe two catches for 58 yards, and Colton Loy's three-yard catch.

Armando Estrada kicked off eight times in the game for 447 yards. He also made five of seven extra point tries.

Here's the tackle sheet:

Evan Waymoth--two; Logan Heil--four; Charlie Ring--seven; Michael Love--five; Spencer Fox--one; Jack Harper--one; Connor Simmons--two; Zach Donaldson--one; Hunter Reed--one; and Estrada--one.

Here are other Week 7 scores from the region:

Effingham  47,   Lincoln 0

Cumberland  49,  Tri-County  0

Newton   51,  Marshall 6

Charleston 35,  Mattoon 14 

Mahomet-Seymour  49,  Taylorville  6 

ALAH 35,  Arcola 14 

Collinsville  27,  Mt Zion  7