Hearts Return Home for Pivotal Week 3 Matchup Against Mater Dei 

Print

Effingham High School returns home Friday for a pivotal Week 3 football matchup, hosting Breese Mater Dei on Military Appreciation Night at Klosterman Field in a bid to win a second straight non-conference game before embarking upon the Apollo Conference portion of its schedule.

The Flaming Hearts (1-1) handled Mt. Carmel on the road last week, hanging four first-quarter touchdowns on the Golden Aces and leaving the Snake Pit with a 35-14 victory and a handful of new school records for senior quarterback Jaxon Bridges.

Bridges’ official numbers from the Mt. Carmel victory were 28-for-38 for 392 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. The yardage smashed Landon Wolfe’s single-game record of 343 set in 2018 against Macomb, while the completion and attempt totals both broke much older single-game records from Rich Eggemeyer’s 23-for-35 performance against Mt. Zion in 1982.

More importantly for the Hearts, though, was getting that first win of the season after dropping its opener to state-ranked Breese Central. With some challenging contests against other Associated Press poll vote-getters still looming later in the season, it becomes rather important to play well and hopefully secure another W against a Mater Dei team that has struggled out of the game.

Mater Dei (0-2) dropped a 23-22 heartbreaker at Columbia in Week 1 before being pasted by Breese Central 46-0 in the final installation of their famed “Milk Bowl” rivalry game. Friday will technically be the third of four consecutive road games the Knights must play to open their season; last week’s game was in Breese, but played on Central’s newly renovated field.

For the Knights, an 0-3 start to the season would put them in grave danger of missing the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1990 and 1991. Head coach Jim Stiebel, in his 17th year at the post, has guided Mater Dei to 13 IHSA playoff appearances.

Neither team has accumulated a lot of rushing yardage so far. Mater Dei has run the ball 41 times for a total 62 yards in its first two games, while Effingham comes in with 70 yards on 39 attempts. More than half of the Knights’ rushing yardage has come courtesy of sophomore quarterback Hunter Hochbaum, while DJ Latham’s 36-yard scoring run at Mt. Carmel is a big chunk of Effingham’s rushing damage on top of the senior linebacker’s solid play at his primary defensive position.

Hochbaum has completed 38 of 62 passes for 402 yards with two TDs and an interception thus far. Both scores obviously came in the Columbia game as did 268 of the yards. So far his favorite target has been senior Beckett Wade, who has caught 14 passes for 165 yards. Brett Hilmes, another senior, has nine receptions for 95 yards and a score.

For Effingham, ten different players have already caught a ball in a game and have aided Bridges in stacking up 575 passing yards by providing him a number of good options and building his confidence in them as they have been able to make catches in traffic, along the sideline, and near the turf. Jenner Pals, a sophomore who has certainly hit the ground running in a varsity uniform, has already amassed 257 yards and three scores on 14 receptions.

Carter Kalber, a classmate of Pals, burst onto the scene at Mt. Carmel, grabbing five catches for 112 yards and a score after not having his name called in the opener with Central. Max Flack, Chase Starkey, and Maxx Kistler all have at least four catches on the season as well.

Effingham also took the ball away from Mt. Carmel three times last week; Kistler and Wade Bushur each snagged an interception (Bushur’s fifth career interception) while Nolan Fearday recovered a fumble and also got his hand on a punt.

Game time, as always, is 7 p.m. Friday at Washington Savings Bank Stadium. You can tune in at 6:45 p.m. for pregame coverage on your Home for Hearts Football, 979 XFM.

APOLLO CONFERENCE – WEEK 3

(all matchups are non-conference)

Breese Mater Dei (0-2) at Effingham (1-1)
Carterville (2-0) at Charleston (0-2)
Mahomet-Seymour (0-2) at Sycamore (1-1)
Salem (0-2) at Mattoon (1-1)
Breese Central (2-0) at Mt. Zion (1-1)
Freeburg (2-0) at Taylorville (1-1)

LINCOLN PRAIRIE CONFERENCE – WEEK 3

(all matchups are conference games)

Cumberland (2-0, 2-0) at Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond (2-0, 2-0)
Arcola/Cerro Gordo (0-2, 0-2) at Argenta-Oreana (0-2, 0-2)
Tri-County (1-1, 1-1) at Nokomis (1-1, 1-1)
Sullivan (2-0, 2-0) at Sangamon Valley (0-2, 0-1)
Villa Grove (1-1, 1-1) was scheduled to play Cerro Gordo prior to the Arcola/Cerro Gordo co-op agreement; any school that does not or cannot fill the Cerro Gordo hole in its schedule will receive a victory by forfeit.

LITTLE ILLINI CONFERENCE – WEEK 3

(all matchups are conference games)

Newton (1-1, 0-0) at Casey-Westfield (2-0, 0-0)
Olney (2-0, 0-0) at Lawrenceville (1-1, 0-0)
Paris (2-0, 0-0) at Marshall (2-0, 0-0)
Robinson (1-1, 0-0) at Mt. Carmel (0-2, 0-0)

OTHER WEEK 3 GAMES OF NOTE

Waterloo (1-1) at Centralia (2-0)