Published on September 25, 2025 7:29 pm
Last Updated on September 25, 2025 7:31 pm
Effingham High School football rides a three-game winning streak, including its Apollo Conference opener a week ago, when it hosts the Taylorville Tornadoes for the Homecoming game at Klosterman Field.
Taylorville (1-3, 0-1 Apollo) is on the road for the second consecutive week after going to Mahomet and dropping a 49-27 decision to the Bulldogs. The Tornadoes’ only victory was Week 2 against winless Canton by a 41-27 margin. Olney, Freeburg and Mahomet-Seymour, the three teams to defeat Taylorville, have combined for a 9-3 start to the season.
A perusal of Taylorville’s statistics tells a very balanced story in terms of rushing and passing offense with junior quarterback Isaac Repscher running the show. His favorite passing targets have been senior Malique Pearse (17 receptions) and junior Maddex Havera (15); Pearse has shown more big-play potential with nearly three times as much yardage as Havera at 455 to 162, a margin goosed but not totally defined by an 80-yard touchdown catch against Freeburg in Week 3.
As far as running the ball, Taylorville has turned to senior Owen Mateer for the most carries at 42 for 221 yards. Look out for senior Spencer Brown, though, who is not far behind at 203 yards on fewer than half as many carries. Repscher will also take it himself and has done so 31 times so far.
Effingham (3-1, 1-0 Apollo) has racked up seven takeaways the past two weeks and nine for the season but ball security has been a strength of the Tornadoes; they’ve given it away just four times. Repscher has thrown just one interception.
For the Hearts, last week’s 51-35 win at Charleston was a return to form for senior quarterback Jaxon Bridges, who was 18-for-25 for 278 yards and four TDs after being bitten by the turnover bug a few times the week before against Mater Dei. He’s up to 10 touchdown passes on the year and cleared the 1,000-yard passing mark for the season during that victory.
Effingham absorbed a serious injury to starting tailback Hunter Holland, who reportedly sustained the damage while making a fabulous full-extension catch along the sideline at Charleston High School, by getting a solid, if not somewhat injury-hampered, rushing effort from senior DJ Latham in addition to a breakout performance from sophomore Lexton Roberts.
Roberts, seeing his first-ever varsity playing time in the second half on Trojan Hill, stepped up in a big way with 18 carries for 111 yards and a score. A couple of his classmates also showed out Friday; Jenner Pals added seven more catches, 140 yards, and two TDs to his rapidly growing stockpile of varsity stats, while Hank Nelson scooped up a fumble and took it 60 yards to paydirt.
Undoubtedly, a focal point in the EHS film sessions this week most likely revolved around finishing tackles. Charleston back Treylin Couch is certainly a talented runner, but Coach Brett Hefner expressed after the game a sentiment that his squad should have held Couch to numbers less gaudy than his 264 yards and five touchdowns on 22 carries.
Taylorville has reached a desperate point in its season as the Tornadoes simply cannot afford many more losses without seeing their playoff hopes vanish. While Effingham’s record is the inverse of Taylorville’s, this still feels like an important game for the Hearts to win with some extremely difficult matchups looming on the back half of the schedule.
To that point, EHS went into Taylorville a year ago with a 4-1 record and let one slip away 42-41 in overtime; unfortunately that was the first of four consecutive defeats leaving the club on the outside looking in for the 4A playoff field.
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 5
Taylorville (1-3, 0-1) at Effingham (3-1, 1-0)
Mattoon (1-3, 0-1) vs. Charleston (0-4, 0-1) at Eastern Illinois University
Mt. Zion (3-1, 1-0) at Mahomet-Seymour (2-2, 1-0)
LINCOLN PRAIRIE CONFERENCE – WEEK 5
(* Denotes non-conference game)
Arcola/Cerro Gordo-Bement (0-4, 0-4) at Cumberland (3-1, 3-1)
Argenta-Oreana (1-3, 1-3) at Madison (0-4)*
Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond (4-0, 4-0) at Sullivan (4-0, 4-0)
Nokomis (3-1, 3-1) at Sangamon Valley (1-3, 1-2)
Villa Grove (2-2, 2-2) at Tri-County (1-3, 1-3)
Argenta-Oreana was scheduled to play Cerro Gordo-Bement this week prior to the Arcola/CGB co-op agreement; any school that does not or cannot fill the Cerro Gordo hole in its schedule has the option to receive a victory by forfeit.
LITTLE ILLINI CONFERENCE – WEEK 5
Olney (4-0, 2-0) at Newton (1-3, 0-2)
Casey-Westfield (4-0, 2-0) at Lawrenceville (1-3, 0-2)
Robinson (1-3, 0-2) at Marshall (3-1, 1-1)
Paris (3-1, 1-1) at Mt. Carmel (2-2, 2-0)
OTHER WEEK 5 GAMES OF NOTE
Breese Central (3-1, 1-0) at East Alton-Wood River (0-4, 0-1)
Macomb (4-0) at Breese Mater Dei (1-3)
Centralia (3-1, 0-0) at Carbondale (1-3, 0-2)