EDN FOOTBALL PREVIEW: New look Effingham hopes to reach playoffs again despite departures

Aug. 24—EFFINGHAM — After a season that ended with a trip back to the playoffs, the Effingham football team is back looking to make sure that trip wasn't a fluke.

Like every team in the Effingham Daily News area, the Flaming Hearts graduate their fair share of weapons.

Head coach Brett Hefner is still confident in his group, though, and that starts on the defensive side of the ball.

"We had a pretty good idea of how good our front seven would be defensively and that's shown," Hefner said. "Our guys are pretty tired of blocking them. They want to try and block somebody else, but similar to last year, we knew that would be a strength for us coming in."

A defense that allowed 19.7 points against last year returns leading tackler Michael Love, along with Charlie Ring and Spencer Fox — both of whom recorded over 40 tackles in 2022.

Where the questions lie is on offense.

The Hearts are replacing two-year starting quarterback Tanner Pontious with senior Gaige Gillum.

"The thing I like about it, even though he hasn't had game experience, (Gillum) has been in the system for four years; has a really good understanding of the offense, the reads, what we're trying to do," Hefner said. "We have to keep him healthy and protect him, but I think he will get better as the year progresses."

Gillums' good genes back that, too.

Though Gillum hasn't been on the field in big moments, he's been on, or near, it when they occur.

Gillum's brother, Jett, was a two-year starter on two of Effingham's most successful teams in 2018 and 2019.

Hefner knows that's important to Gaige, too, and his work ethic backs that up.

"It's important to him. He's worked extremely hard," Hefner said. "He's a kid that doesn't miss workouts; he doesn't miss anything."

One steady hand that will be behind him to help will be junior Weldon Dunston IV.

The Hearts leading rusher returns after a sophomore campaign that saw him rush for 714 yards on 172 carries and 10 scores.

Hefner is looking forward to seeing the next leap that Dunston IV takes this year.

"I'm excited to see what he can do. He's put on some weight and muscle and got faster," Hefner said. "He has a good understanding of the offense and similar to John (Westendorf) his junior year, the more reps you get, the better they get at it, so, hopefully, that carryover from last year to this year will be big for him."

Hefner added that becoming more comfortable in the offense helps.

"The comfort of being in the offense. The more times you run a play and the more times you see it, the better feeling you get for it and he's got a pretty good feel for what we're trying to get done and he's pretty explosive, so I'm anxious to see him run the ball," he said.

Hefner is just as anxious to see how his wide receiving corp does, too.

Gillum will have the luxury of throwing to returning leading receiver Andrew Lotz this year.

Lotz finished last season with 456 receiving yards on 34 receptions and five scores.

Kaden Koeberlein is also back after a season that saw him tally 134 receiving yards on 10 catches.

Hefner also mentioned a few other names that could add a spark.

"I think Brodie Belcher's had a good camp," Hefner said. "He's done a nice job. Then, we can also use guys that we can use over defense like Jacob Weaver; Wade Bushur can hop in there and play, Logan Kessler can hop in there and play, Nolan Fearday can hop in there and play and Brock Meltabarger can hop in there and play. So, we have several kids we can rotate in and play if necessary, which is nice."

But while the luxury of depth in some areas is nice, what isn't is the demanding Apollo Conference schedule that Effingham has to play.

Though Breese (Mater Dei), Highland and Decatur (St. Teresa) are off the schedule, a reloaded Mt. Zion team, among other improving squads in the league, are.

"The league overall will be better than last year for several reasons," Hefner said. "From the numbers they had at the lower levels, Mahomet-Seymour was very good and as it's been the case around here for us, those guys getting ready to play this year had to practice against them all last year. Mt. Zion returns every skill kid and we saw what they could do last year. Mattoon is in Year 2 with Jarad Kimbro and you expect them to improve. Charleston returned a ton of kids and hired Brian Halsey back, who had a ton of success there before he got out. Taylorville was very young. So the league will be much better from top to bottom."

WHAT'S NEXT

Effingham opens the season at Robinson on Friday at 8 p.m. The time of the game was adjusted due to the heat.

The Maroons finished last year 6-4 and 5-2 in the Little Illini Conference.

Robinson returns leading receiver Judson Pinkston and second-leading receiver Blake Green. Pinkson caught 43 passes for 517 yards and four touchdowns last year, while Green caught 47 passes for 443 yards and five scores.

The Maroons lost quarterback Wesley Jackson, who threw for 1,815 yards on 178-of-251 passing and 16 touchdowns to two interceptions and rushed for a team-best 659 yards on 126 carries and an additional 21 scores; second-leading running back Nathan Wernz, who rushed for 490 yards on 84 carries and five touchdowns and caught 26 passes for 425 yards and four scores and third-leading rusher Craig Markello, who rushed for 376 yards on 49 carries and two scores.

Defensively, Robinson brings back Eli Rosborough and Jevan Wampler, who both recorded over 30 tackles last season. They lost leading tackler Korbin Rawling and second-leading tackler Dalton Woods to graduation.

Contact EDN Sports Editor Alex Wallner at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.