Published on October 9, 2025 9:28 pm
Last Updated on October 9, 2025 9:31 pm
There’ll be no shortage of motivating factors for the Effingham High School football team Friday night.
The Flaming Hearts are looking to avoid dipping below .500, snap a two-game losing streak, and face the need to win two of their final three games to get playoff eligible when Apollo Conference front-runner Mt. Zion invades Klosterman Field.
All that is reason enough to be fired up for the final regular season home date of the year … and that’s before accounting for the innate competitive desire to show out against a highly regarded longtime conference rival currently sitting at No. 4 in the latest Associated Press Class 4A poll.
That’s a lot of table setting, but this game comes down to a rather simple idea: The Braves are awfully good and the Hearts will need to be the best version of themselves this week if they want to get back in the win column.
Mt. Zion (5-1, 3-0 Apollo) is coming off a 70-0 dismantling of Charleston, the third shutout the Braves have orchestrated en route to outscoring opponents 265-79 at the two-thirds point of the regular season schedule.
Its one loss was Week 2 against Rochester in a tight 28-24 decision; the perennially strong Rockets are one spot ahead of Mt. Zion in that same Class 4A poll with only Lombard Montini and Morris ahead of them.
The Braves are good in all phases, with senior receiver JC Anderson getting the lion’s share of outside attention due to his commitment to go play for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss next year. Statistically, he’s actually the team’s second most prolific pass catcher by a significant margin as classmate Jacob Harvey has caught three more passes (33) for 324 more yards (684) and five more touchdowns (9).
Another senior, Keller Stocks, will be the one throwing them the ball. He’s a second-year starter at quarterback and has tossed 19 TDs to just two interceptions while piling up nearly 1400 yards.
As a team, the Braves also average 5.4 yards per rushing attempt; Stocks and junior Kellen Bollhorst share the team lead with 43 carries each.
If that sounds like a lot to deal with, you’re not wrong. The good news is that hopefully the Hearts will be closer to full strength than a week ago at Mahomet.
Effingham (3-3, 1-2) dropped a 49-7 game to the Bulldogs on the road last week but was within 14 as late as a couple minutes prior to the end of the third quarter before things went sideways.
A number of regulars were limited or unavailable due to sickness and injury throughout the week, but the belief is most of the guys who couldn’t go will be able to contribute this time around.
The Hearts ended up throwing the ball a season-high 42 times and had decent results (227 yards on 25 completions) but had easily their lowest output running the ball (-9 yards on 17 attempts) in a year that just hasn’t featured a lot of consistent success on the ground.
Junior wideout Chase Starkey caught six passes for 77 yards and a score while Maxx Kistler hauled in seven catches, doing their part to make up for the concussion-related absences of Jenner Pals and Carter Kalber. Kistler also snared his third interception of the season and the fourth of his varsity career.
Having already entered the single-game EHS record book for completions and pass attempts, Jaxon Bridges (122-for-190) is on pace to overtake Nate Shackelford’s 2019 season records of 235 attempts and 158 completions. That same year, however, Shackelford accumulated a record 2,685 passing yards; that benchmark would take a bit more work to surpass as Bridges currently sits at 1,502.
Maicol Sefton is also edging closer to Ben Cisna’s 2004-06 career record of 80 extra points; the senior kicker is just three shy.
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 7
Mt. Zion (5-1, 3-0) at Effingham (3-3, 1-2)
Charleston (1-5, 1-2) at Taylorville (3-3, 2-1)
Mahomet-Seymour (3-3, 2-1) at Mattoon (1-5, 0-3)
LINCOLN PRAIRIE CONFERENCE – WEEK 7
Sullivan (5-1, 5-1) at Cumberland (5-1, 5-1)
Tri-County (1-5, 1-5) at Argenta-Oreana (1-5, 1-4)
Nokomis (5-1, 5-1) at Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond (6-0, 6-0)
Sangamon Valley (1-5, 1-4) at Villa Grove (4-2, 4-2)
Arcola was scheduled to play Cerro Gordo-Bement this week prior to the Arcola/CGB co-op agreement.
LITTLE ILLINI CONFERENCE – WEEK 7
Robinson (3-3, 2-2) at Newton (1-5, 0-4)
Casey-Westfield (6-0, 4-0) at Mt. Carmel (3-3, 3-1)
Lawrenceville (1-5, 0-4) at Marshall (3-3, 1-3)
Paris (4-2, 2-2) at Olney (6-0, 4-0)
OTHER WEEK 7 GAMES OF NOTE
Breese Central (5-1, 3-0) at Roxana (4-2, 1-2)
Breese Mater Dei (2-4) at Belleville Althoff (3-3)
Centralia (5-1, 2-0) at Cahokia (5-1, 3-0)