Charleston High School battled not only Effingham High School but the elements of weather Friday night at Washington Savings Bank Stadium.
The Trojans came up short, losing their second Apollo Conference game of the season 30-20.
Here are four takeaways from the game.
- Diminished punting and passing game
With wind gusts as high as 56 miles per hour, both offenses were unable to move the ball through the air. Charleston abandoned the passing game early after one throw, only going back to the air three more times.
Effingham was moving the ball through the air on occasion, tallying 35 passing yards via screen passes, but even the Flaming Hearts barely relied on the passing game and only went to it four times.
Special teams were also a challenge. With the way the wind was blowing, if either team had to punt into the wind, they wouldn’t be able to flip the field very well. That’s why Effingham opted for a scrimmage kick and Charleston chose to use a quick kick.
Trojan head coach Brian Halsey confirmed that the decision to use senior quarterback Luke Bonnstetter to quick kick instead of attempting a traditional punt was only because of the weather and had nothing to do with the teams issues with long snapping in the loss to Mahomet-Seymour.
With the wind at the kicker’s back, they could kick the ball over the returner’s head into the end zone for a touchback, which doesn’t happen very often at the high school level.
Here’s a look at the conditions here in Effingham pic.twitter.com/IrzgP3DUor
— Gabe Newman (@GabeNewman974) September 28, 2024
- Both teams leaned on their strength
Despite the limitations, both teams were still able to rely on the ground game to move the ball down the field. Effingham senior running back Weldon Dunston IV finished with 258 yards on 34 carries, scoring all four of the Flaming Hearts’ touchdowns.
It was a typical Dunston performance, as he still racked up enough yards to get over his season average yards-per-game. The Flaming Hearts defense, able to key in on the run knowing Charleston couldn’t throw the ball well, contained the Trojans enough to win.
“Effingham is a good team,” Halsey said. “They have the best running back in 4A.”
The Trojans spread much of the workload between seniors Ben Coffey and Marcellx Boling. The two were critical in the team’s 19 play, 95-yard scoring drive that brought the Trojans to within one score. Coffey racked up 141 yards on 23 carries, and Boling had 62 yards on 15 carries, scoring two touchdowns.
- The play that won the game for Effingham wasn’t a touchdown
One might think that Dunston’s 80-yard touchdown run with 3:42 to go in the fourth quarter is what iced the game. While that play removed all doubt that the Flaming Hearts would win, as it put them back up two scores with very little time remaining, the key play for Effingham came on the drive before.
The Flaming Hearts got the ball back after Charleston’s 19 play scoring drive, still up two scores, determined to chew the clock. But after two Dunston carries for a total of three yards, Effingham was faced with third and long from its own 23-yard line.
Failure to convert on third down would force Effingham to either go for it on fourth down and risk turning the ball over on downs deep into its own territory, or punt into the wind and give the ball back to the Trojans. The best-case scenario for Effingham if they were to punt would be to down the ball around midfield.
With the wind shutting down the passing game, the only option was to hand it to Dunston. He bumped his run outside to the right, found a hole, and picked up eight yards and a crucial first down.
That play allowed Effingham, which fumbled to end the drive four plays later going for it on fourth and two, to burn almost three more minutes off the clock.
In total, that seven-play drive contributed to the 5:39 gap between Charleston’s touchdowns to cut it to a four-point game
- Effingham’s turf saved the offense (and potentially the game)
Shoutout to the artificial turf of Washington Savings Bank Stadium. Had the game been scheduled for a grass field like Trojan Hill, it would have been a way uglier game given the weather conditions.
While it might have been fun to see sloppy football with both teams covered head to toe in mud and grass, the players would have a much harder time getting their footing and even the run game would be severely limited.
If the game were played at Trojan Hill, the field might’ve been severely torn up, and the decision to postpone the game might have had some legs.
Plus, it would’ve increased the likelihood of a player getting injured because of the field conditions.
Charleston (3-2, 0-2) will go for its first conference win of the season, taking on Mattoon this Friday in the Coles County Clash. Kickoff at O’Brien Field is at 7 p.m.
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.
