Published on September 18, 2025 7:44 pm
Last Updated on September 18, 2025 7:44 pm
Apollo Conference play will kick off Friday on Trojan Hill for Effingham High School as the Hearts take their two-game winning streak to Charleston High School for a meeting with the winless Trojans.
Charleston (0-3) has had a rough go of it through three weeks, being outscored 138-33 and surrendering no fewer than 41 points to its opponents. Robinson hosted the Trojans in Week 1 and won 41-6, while a road trip to Paris the following week ended 48-14. The latest foe was Carterville, which prevailed 49-13.
Meanwhile, Effingham (2-1) enters play off a 24-14 home win over winless Breese Mater Dei. The Hearts survived a five-turnover night by piling up four takeaways of their own and both participants can almost certainly look forward to a game featuring fewer penalty markers than last week’s unprecedented flag fest at Klosterman Field.
Senior quarterback Jaxon Bridges has had an up-and-down last couple weeks, setting school passing records in Week 2 before being saddled with three picks and a couple fumbles against Mater Dei. Hearts coach Brett Hefner was quick to shoulder some responsibility for the interceptions after the game, however, pointing out a play call here and there he would’ve liked to have to do over again.
There’s plenty of reason to hope the Apollo opener will be a good bounce-back opportunity for Bridges and will almost certainly include more connections between himself and sophomore wideout Jenner Pals, who caught 10 more passes last week and through three weeks has hauled in two-dozen passes for 346 yards and four scores. It’s early in Pals’ varsity career, but that’s quite a special start!
Maicol Sefton kicked his tenth career field goal last week, a 38-yarder, to add to his school record career total. The senior is also 67-for-78 for his career in PATs and, by the way, leads the EHS boys soccer team (9-1-2) with 24 goals!
Effingham’s defense has been on a good roll as of late and will look to become the fourth straight team to hold Charleston below 175 yards of total offense.
Maxx Kistler grabbed his third career interception in the Mater Dei win while Wade Bushur blocked a punt and DJ Latham recovered a pair of fumbles; Latham forced one of those with one of his team-high seven tackles and shared the team lead with AJ Lybarger. Bushur and Max Flack were close behind with a half-dozen each, with three of Flacks taking place in the backfield.
The Trojans have had an especially difficult time in the throwing game, still looking to break 100 yards passing in a contest. Junior signal-caller Wyatt Gordon has completed six passes in each of his first three games as a high school football player; a preseason report from the Daily Eastern News indicated he’d never played organized football prior to this year and his coach, Brian Halsey, cited protection issues as a complicating factor after his challenging debut in Robinson.
APOLLO CONFERENCE – WEEK 4
Effingham (2-1, 0-0) at Charleston (0-3, 0-0)
Mattoon (1-2, 0-0) at Mt. Zion (2-1, 0-0)
Taylorville (1-2, 0-0) at Mahomet-Seymour (1-2, 0-0)
LINCOLN PRAIRIE CONFERENCE – WEEK 4
Tri-County (1-2, 1-2) at Cumberland (2-1, 2-1)
Sangamon Valley (0-3, 0-2) at Arcola/Cerro Gordo (0-3, 0-3)
Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond (3-0, 3-0) at Argenta-Oreana (1-2, 1-2)
Villa Grove (2-1, 2-1) at Nokomis (2-1, 2-1)
Sullivan (3-0, 3-0) 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 4
Mt. Carmel (1-2, 1-0) at Newton (1-2, 0-1)
Casey-Westfield (3-0, 1-0) at Robinson (1-2, 0-1)
Lawrenceville (1-2, 0-1) at Paris (2-1, 0-1)
Marshall (3-0, 1-0) at Olney (3-0, 1-0)
OTHER WEEK 4 GAMES OF NOTE
Freeburg (3-0, 0-0) at Breese Central (2-1, 0-0)
Breese Mater Dei (0-3) at Harrisburg (1-2)
Centralia (2-1) at Granite City (0-3)