What a high school football game on Friday night and you wouldn’t expect anything less from these two teams.
The game did not start out like the Braves drew it up, a high snap on the first play of the game that the Mt. Zion drive never recovered from. Another blow on the drive was Mt. Zion running back Matthais Adams, after one rush went down with an injury and never returned. Effingham would then take advantage as they put two scores on the board both rushing touchdowns from John Westendorf, one from 14 yards out and the other from 8 yards out. Then Mt. Zion would come back with a fury.
The Braves rattled off 21 unanswered points as they finally got their “home run” plays to work. It started with a 87 yard touchdown, as QB Tyson Evans pitched it short to Christian Keyhea and Keyhea did the rest. Keyhea wouldn’t be done there. He punched it in again this time from a little shorter 8 yards out. Mt. Zion would cap off their run with a 54 yard rushing touchdown from Adam Lutz to take us into halftime 21-14 in favor of Mt. Zion.
Third quarter began with the Hearts driving down the field, on a 10 play drive capped off by another rushing touchdown from Westendorf to tie the game at 21. Mt. Zion would respond with a another big play, a 56 yard passing touchdown from Evans to Chiren Petty. But that wasn’t the part of the play that would loom large, it was the extra point. A low snap caused the holder to abort mission and try to rush it in but the Hearts defense stopped him and that made it 27-21.
The ensuing Effingham possession would start in the third quarter but finish up in the fourth with the Hearts taking the lead. Westendorf was a workhorse all night and found the end zone for a 4th time and their the extra point was good to make the lead 28-27. Mt. Zion takes over and found a big pass play to Petty again but Max Nelson never gave up on the play. Nelson would chase him down and force a fumble that Effingham would recover. Braves defense would force a three and out so that meant Mt. Zion would have one more chance. The Braves would drive it down to the red zone but the Hearts defense would hold strong forcing a field goal attempt. The field goal would bang off the goal post and also hit the cross bar and fall no good. Effingham a winner 28-27
Effingham improves to 3-3 on the season and 3-2 in the Apollo. Mt. Zion drops to 4-2 and also 3-2 in the Apollo.
Hear from Coach Hefner after the win
Audio Player
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Effingham | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
| Mt. Zion | 0 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 27 |
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter EHS 5:30 14 yd TD Run Westendorf 7-0
2nd Quarter EHS 10:19 8 yd TD Run Westendorf 14-0
Mt. Zion 87 yd TD Pass Evans-Keyhea 14-7
Mt. Zion 5:02 8 yd TD Run Keyhea 14-14
Mt. Zion 34 ydd TD Run Lutz 21-14
3rd Quarter EHS 3 yd TD Run Westendorf 21-21
Mt. Zion 4:18 56 yd TD Pass Evans- Petty 27-21
4th Quarter EHS 11:26 9 yd TD Run Westendorf 28-27
Effingham Stats
Pontious 6/14 82 yds 6 carries 24 yds
Westendorf 30 carries 188 yds 4 TDs
Baker 14 carries 68 yds
Estrada 1 rush 7 yds 2 catches 9 yds
Walls 3 catches 16 yds
Waymouth 3 catches 43 yds
Rushing 220 yds
Passing 82 yds
Total 302 yds
Mt. Zion Stats
Evans 7/10 262 yds 2 TDs 29 yds
Keyhea 4 catches 143 yds 1 TD 7 carries 8 yds 1 TD
Girard 10 carries 46 yds
Lutz 3 carries 42 yds 1 TD
Petty 2 catches 61 yds 1 TD
Adams 1 carry 2 yds
Rushing 127 yds
Passing 262 yds
Total 389 yds
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