Published on September 17, 2026 11:17 pm
Last Updated on September 17, 2026 11:22 pm
With a little positive momentum finally on its side, Effingham High School will point the team buses toward Taylorville Friday night as it looks to remain undefeated in Apollo Conference play against the Tornadoes.
The Flaming Hearts (1-3, 1-0 Apollo) snapped a three-game losing streak last week in their Apollo opener, a 44-27 decision to leave Charleston as the lone winless team in the league. In that contest they piled up 30 second-half points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Prior to that, EHS had scored a total of seven points after halftime and none during the final period.
Taylorville (2-2, 0-1) is stinging a bit at the moment. After handling Canton and Olney in the opening weeks of the season, a couple much tougher matchups at Carbondale and at home against state-ranked Mahomet-Seymour have resulted in 48-7 and 42-7 shelllackings.
What the Tornadoes do have on their side is the knowledge that their last two matchups with Effingham have gone their way, albeit by a grand total of eight points with an overtime involved in the last Hearts game they hosted back in 2024.
It’s a pivotal matchup for both teams as EHS found its playoff hopes backed toward a corner with the 0-3 start against a trio of highly-regarded squads that have combined to collect 10 wins against just two losses; Breese Central and Mt. Carmel are still undefeated as the regular season hits its midpoint.
The Tornadoes aren’t in quite as tough a spot, but even with IHSA’s expanded playoff fields going into effect for 2026 you don’t want to have to work around three straight losses. That’s stating the obvious, of course, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll see it would be especially tough for Taylorville with just one home game remaining after this meeting with the Hearts.
Turning the focus to Effingham, the Hearts ought to be riding high after a complete offensive performance against the Trojans. Their 431 yards of total offense were quite evenly distributed; rushing and passing totals each surpassed 200 yards.
Lexton Roberts rushed for 136 of those yards and found the end zone twice, his first multi-touchdown outing of the campaign. Jenner Pals caught 181 yards worth of passes from Jack Hartman, including two TDs of his own. Both scoring strikes went for over 50 yards and second was one of the prettiest throws yet for the senior quarterback.
More of the same sort of two-pronged offensive success would be welcome for the Hearts at Taylorville because it’s a game Effingham really needs with state-ranked Mahomet and Centralia still scheduled to visit Klosterman Field in addition to an always tricky trip to Mt. Zion also left on the docket.
Special teams have largely been a strength for Effingham this year and it’s no great revelation the Hearts would love to see that continue. Coach Brett Hefner referenced the “sneaky yards” you can gain in field position with solid kicking and kick coverage after the Charleston win and he’s gotten plenty of those from his guys over the first month of games.
Game time is 7 p.m. from Taylorville High School; you can catch the pregame show at 6:45 here on your Home for Hearts Football, 979 XFM.
The Apollo’s marquee matchup Friday night is probably in Mt. Zion as the Braves (3-1, 1-0) host Mahomet (4-0, 1-0). It’s been a long time since someone besides one of these two won the league; in 2018 Taylorville won with Effingham taking second. Effingham also finished second to Mt. Zion in 2019 … since then, it’s been the Braves and Bulldogs occupying the top two spots in the final standings.
Also in the Apollo, Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium will be hopping despite the collective struggles of the participants in the annual Coles County Clash; Mattoon is 1-3, Charleston is 0-4 and both lost their league openers, but that won’t stop several thousands of football fans from heading to EIU for this rivalry matchup.
Elsewhere in the area: Cumberland (1-3, 1-3 LPC kicks off two straight weeks of road games with a trip to Tri-County (0-4, 0-4) to try and establish itself in a different tier of the Lincoln Prairie Conference than the winless Titans, who have scored just 34 points all year.
Newton (2-2, 1-1 LIC) will take the short jaunt down Route 130 to see about handing Olney (2-2, 2-0) its first Little Illini Conference defeat of the fall. The Tigers have spent the last two week beating up on Marshall and Lawrenceville, while Newton saw a two-game winning streak snapped at Mt. Carmel and now must deal with far and away the league’s largest member.
Other Effingham opponents for 2026 in action this week include state-ranked Breese Central (4-0, 3-0 Cahokia) hosting Jerseyville (1-3, 1-2) after playing its closest game of the year against Waterloo … and still winning 44-26. Breese Mater Dei (2-2, 0-1 MVC) lost its first-ever Metro-Valley Conference game to Roxana, 54-29, last week and now hosts always-formidable Belleville Althoff (2-2, 1-0). Centralia (4-0, 3-0 Cahokia) finally got a game last week in a 35-17 triumph over previously unbeaten Freeburg and now turns its attention to a home date with Columbia (2-2, 1-2).