Published on October 23, 2025 7:46 pm
Last Updated on October 24, 2025 6:28 am
BY DUSTIN WHITE
Win and you’re in. It’s as simple as that.
Effingham High School knows what it has to do Friday night at Centralia if it wants to qualify for a berth in the IHSA football playoffs. The Flaming Hearts must knock off a good Orphans club to finish out the regular season with a 5-4 mark and earn the opportunity to hit the road next weekend for a Class 4A postseason game.
EHS (4-4) already faced this must-win scenario last week at Mattoon, saddling the Green Wave with their sixth consecutive loss in a 36-16 Apollo Conference finale.
The challenge is certain to “level up” a bit against Centralia, however. The South Seven Conference runner-up is 6-2 and riding high follow last week’s 48-44 triumph over arch rival Mt. Vernon, a game the Orphans trailed 44-20 at halftime and didn’t lead until the fourth quarter clock showed 52 seconds remaining.
The rivalry with Mt. Vernon always means a lot to Centralia, but this one was especially big as it was the Orphans’ final South Seven football game before leaving for the Cahokia Conference next season. The two schools were founding members of the South Seven all the way back in 1939.
So the Orphans have a little wind in their sails as we hit Week 9. They’ve only lost to Waterloo (6-2) and Cahokia (7-1) and sophomore quarterback Archie Goewey, who was already a man among boys on the field during his frosh campaign, has tossed 27 touchdowns against just four interceptions. Two of those picks did just happen against Mt. Vernon, but so did five of the TDs.
Goewey’s favorite target is Kenny Bratton, who has nabbed 14 TD passes in a 42-catch, 757-yard campaign. Don’t be surprised to see Kruz Jackson targeted plenty of times as well, while the Orphans can run enough to keep you honest with Mike Brown and Will Stanton getting most of the carries and combining for around 1,000 rushing yards.
Effingham got sophomore receiver Jenner Pals back in the mix last week after a two-week hiatus due to a concussion; quarterback Jaxon Bridges’ favorite target caught four passes for 83 yards but could’ve had even more if a couple other plays had gone a little differently.
Bridges has been a busy man! After last week’s 22-for-36, 282-yard performance with three touchdowns, he’s now thrown 247 passes this season with 150 completions for 1891 yards and 17 scores against eight picks.
That’s the most ever attempts in a single campaign for a Hearts QB; Nate Shackelford put up 235 in 2019, famously a 13-game season that saw the Hearts an eyelash away from playing in the state championship game. He also completed a record 158 passes that year for 2,685 yards and 34 touchdowns (also records).
One last bit of record talk: senior kicker Maicol Sefton will hope to tack on to his school record 82 PATs in this regular season finale after taking his place at the top of the heap a week ago.
For Effingham, though, it’ll take more than the usual good passing game to hand the Orphans a home loss. Sophomore tailback Lexton Roberts picked up 73 yards and a score at Mattoon and will hope that he and his blockers can be that solid again this time around.
Takeaways are always nice too! Effingham forced a couple Mattoon turnovers to get to 14 takeaways for the season; Max Buzzard, who’s also been a quite valuable pass catcher, recorded his first career interception while Aidan Carrell recovered a fumble forced by Will Hecht.
Game time, as always, is 7 p.m. Friday at Centralia High School’s Evers Field. You can tune in at 6:45 p.m. for pregame coverage on your Home for Hearts Football, 979 XFM.
APOLLO CONFERENCE – WEEK 9
Effingham (4-4) at Centralia (6-2)
Salem (2-6) at Charleston (1-7)
Peoria Richwoods (2-6) at Mahomet-Seymour (5-3)
Mattoon (1-7) at Marion (5-3)
Mt. Zion (7-1) at Breese Mater Dei (3-5)
Taylorville (4-4) at Bethalto Civic Memorial (2-6)
LINCOLN PRAIRIE CONFERENCE – WEEK 9
Nokomis (5-3, 5-3) at Arcola/CGB (1-6, 1-6)
Sullivan (6-2, 6-2) at Argenta-Oreana (2-6, 2-5)
Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond (8-0, 8-0) at Villa Grove (5-3, 5-3)
Sangamon Valley (2-6, 2-5) at Tri-County (1-7, 1-7)
Cumberland (8-1, 8-1) 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 CGB hole in its schedule has the option to receive a victory by forfeit.
LITTLE ILLINI CONFERENCE – WEEK 9
Marshall (4-4, 2-4) at Newton (3-5, 2-4)
Casey-Westfield (7-1, 5-1) at Paris (5-3, 3-3)
Lawrenceville (1-7, 0-6) at Mt. Carmel (4-4, 4-2)
Robinson (3-5, 2-4) at Olney (8-0, 6-0)
OTHER WEEK 9 GAME OF NOTE
Herrin (0-8) at Breese Central (7-1)