Taylorville Spoils Homecoming Game, Halts EHS Win Streak 

Effingham players mix it up with Taylorville to bring down a runner during the game Friday.

BY DUSTIN WHITE

For all but 18.7 seconds of the first half Friday at Effingham High School, the Flaming Hearts football team held Taylorville off the scoreboard.

Unfortunately the Hearts could muster just one score during that stretch and after the Tornadoes knotted things up mere seconds before halftime, they never trailed again in a 28-21 Apollo Conference decision over EHS in the Homecoming game at Klosterman Field.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Hearts.

For a fleeting moment late in the second quarter, Effingham (3-2, 1-1 Apollo) thought it had grabbed a two-touchdown edge when Wade Bushur picked off a pass from Taylorville quarterback Isaac Repscher and galloped 60 yards to the end zone. Instead, the momentous defensive play was negated by a roughing the passer penalty and six plays later Repscher was finding Malique Pearse in the very back of the end zone to even the score with fewer than 19 seconds left on the second quarter clock.

Taylorville (2-3, 1-1 Apollo) forced Effingham into a pair of three-and-outs to open the second half and each time followed up with TD drives of its own, including a 73-yard busted coverage connection between Repscher and Wyatt Younker on the first play of a possession to give the Tornadoes their second score in fewer than two minutes of game time.

At 21-7, that two-touchdown deficit ended up being more than the Hearts could battle back from … although not for lack of trying.

Effingham actually had another drive sputter out pretty quickly after falling back 14 points, but forced Taylorville to punt and got great field position at the Tornado 41 after a very high snap forced punter Blake Ladage to scramble and ultimately go down well behind the line of scrimmage.

Two plays later, Hearts quarterback Jaxon Bridges was finding Maxx Kistler in the end zone from 29 yards out to make it 21-14 after Maicol Sefton booted the extra point through the uprights.

Desperately needing a stop, the Effingham defense instead saw Taylorville methodically march 67 yards over the next 3 1/2 minutes to punch one in from four yards out with 6:59 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 28-14.

Kistler and Bridges had one more big connection left in the tank and made it happen just 43 seconds later, this time hooking up for a 78-yard completion to get Kistler right back in the end zone. The Kistler/Bridges combo was a welcome change on a night when a number of promising plays were undone by throws not quite getting where they needed to or good connections being negated by one of Effingham’s seven penalties.

EHS never got another chance to add to that newly clicking offensive attack, however, as Taylorville was able to run every bit of the final 6:16 off the clock, milking the play clock effectively and moving the chains several times on the ground.

A definite bright note for Effingham was sophomore tailback Lexton Roberts getting the start Friday after being forced into second-half action by teammates’ injuries a week ago in Charleston. He crossed the century mark again against Taylorville, picking up 119 yards on 13 carries and busting loose for a 64-yard TD run in the first quarter to put the Hearts out front 7-0.

Sefton was 3-for-3 on his extra points, making him 76-for-88 on lifetime PAT attempts. No Effingham kicker has ever totaled more than 80 successful extra points in a career.

Effingham is back in action next week as it hits the road to Mahomet to face the Mahomet-Seymour Bulldogs, who lost 35-23 to state-ranked Mt. Zion.

You’d have to go back to Oct. 4, 2019, against since-departed Lincoln to find a game Mahomet lost that counted toward Apollo Conference standings and the automatic playoff berth a league title guarantees. There was football played in the spring of 2021 at the end of the COVID-affected 2020-21 school year and the Bulldogs did fall to Mt. Zion and Effingham during that abbreviated campaign, but no IHSA playoffs were contested and a full Apollo schedule did not take place.

	1Q	2Q	3Q	4Q	TOTAL
Taylorville	0	7	14	7	28
Effingham	7	0	0	14	21

SCORING SUMMARY

1Q, 4:11, EHS (7-0) – 60-yard run, Roberts – Sefton kick good (6 plays, 86 yds, 3:03)
2Q, 0:18.7, THS (7-7) – 7-yard pass, Repscher to Pearse – Peabody kick good (7 plays, 47 yds, 2:20)
3Q, 5:42, THS (7-14) – 14-yard run, Brown – Peabody kick good (10 plays, 54 yds, 4:44)
3Q, 3:56, THS (7-21) – 73-yard pass, Repscher to Younker – Peabody kick good (1 play, 73 yds, 0:33)
4Q, 10:24, EHS (14-21) – 29-yard pass, Bridges to Kistler – Sefton kick good (2 plays, 41 yds, 0:13)
4Q, 6:59, THS (14-28) – 4-yard run, Mateer – Peabody kick good (8 plays, 67 yds, 3:25)
4Q, 6:16, EHS (21-28) – 78-yard pass, Bridges to Kistler, Sefton kick good (2 plays, 80 yds, 0:46)

EFFINGHAM
Rushing: Roberts, 13 for 119 yds, TD; Bridges, 4 for -22 yds.
Passing: Bridges, 15-for-24, 195 yds, 2 TD.
Receiving: Pals, 1 for 22 yds; Kalber 4 for 24 yds; Tucker 3 for 23 yds; Roberts, 1 for 4 yds; Starkey, 1 for 12 yds; Kistler, 4 for 118 yds, 2 TD; Hecht, 1 for 2 yds.
TOTAL OFFENSE: 292 yds on 41 plays (17 rushes for 97 yds; 24 passes for 195 yds).

TAYLORVILLE
Rushing: Mateer, 16 for 68 yds, TD; Repscher, 18 for 59 yds; Brown, 7 for 27 yds, TD; Ladage, 1 for -17 yds.
Passing: Repscher, 13-for-21, 199 yds, 3 TD.
Receiving: Ladage, 1 for 13 yds; Pearse, 6 for 48 yds, TD; Younker, 5 for 132 yds, 2 TD; Mateer, 1 for 6 yds.
TOTAL OFFENSE: 336 yds on 63 plays (42 rushes for 137 yds; 21 passes for 199 yds).

TURNOVERS: None.

PENALTIES: Effingham, 7 for 80 yds; Taylorville, 4 for 40 yds.

FIRST DOWNS: Effingham 9 (4 rushing, 3 passing, 2 by penalty), Taylorville 18 (11 rushing, 5 passing, 2 by penalty).

Effingham’s Clinton Metcalf goes after the Taylorville quarterback during Friday evening action.