Sometimes mother nature forces a football game to revert to its roots: smash mouth football and a strong ground game.
With the weather conditions as extreme as they were, with wind gusts as high as 56 miles per hour, moving the football through the air was nearly impossible.
Ultimately, it came down to a running back duel between seniors on both teams.
Flaming Heart Weldon Dunston IV’s performance was the difference, as he scored four touchdowns and rushed for 258 yards in a 30-20 win for Effingham over Charleston Friday night at Washington Savings Bank Stadium.
“[I’m] proud of the kids for playing hard and physical in horrible conditions,” Charleston head coach Brian Halsey said. “[We] put ourselves in position to come back but made too many mistakes at inopportune times.”
Effingham (4-1, 2-0) opened the game with an 11-play drive that covered 65 yards. Eight of those plays was a handoff to Dunston, including the last play of the drive. From the Trojan 32 yard line, Dunston juked into a hole and found a path to the endzone.
Charleston (3-2, 0-2) responded with a touchdown drive of its own. The Trojans started on their own 39 yard line, and after working to the Flaming Hearts 25 yard line, Coffey found space and was tackled at the one. Senior fullback Marcellx Boling would punch it in for his first of two touchdowns.
The next Effingham drive stalled out, with Charleston using two timeouts to ensure that the Flaming Hearts would have to kick into the wind. Effingham opted to do a scrimmage kick, which looks like a field goal attempt but works like a punt, and flipped the field 29 yards, the longest punt (or scrimmage kick) by either team.
Charleston had to get creative on special teams as well. Senior quarterback Luke Bonnstetter attempted two quick kicks, when the quarterback lines up in a shotgun formation and punts the ball. The first one went off the side of Bonnstetter’s foot and out of bounds for a net punt of 12 yards, and the second one was booted into the line of scrimmage.
After a 27-yard touchdown run by Dunston with 8:02 remaining in the third quarter, Effingham’s lead had swelled to 17. Charleston then drove 95 yards on 19 plays, all of them rushing attempts, and scored a touchdown with a Bonnstetter sneak on the goal line. Coffey and Boling each had 8 attempts in that drive alone.
After forcing a turnover on downs with just under five minutes to go in the game, Coffey bounced a run outside for a 28 yard pickup. That run by Coffey would be his last, as he finished with 141 of the 228 yards of offense gained by the Trojans. Boling would score from three yards out.
With the Trojans trailing by four thanks to a failed two point conversion, Effingham got the ball at its own 20 with 3:58 to go. Charleston desperately needed a stop but instead Dunston took the first play of the drive and ran 80 yards to the endzone for the game sealing touchdown.
“Effingham is a good team,” Halsey said. “They have the best running back in [Illinois High School Association football class] 4A”
Both teams only attempted eight passes. Charleston didn’t complete any of its four attempts, and Effingham picked up 35 yards on screen passes and check-downs in the first half. Effingham as a team rushed for 283 yards, accumulating 114 yards in the fourth quarter alone.
The Trojans will turn their attention to the Coles County Clash next Friday against Mattoon.
Kickoff at O’Brien Field is set for 7 p.m.
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.
