EFFINGHAM — A clear choice emerged for Effingham’s offense when the going got tough moving the ball. When in doubt, get Grant Johnson the ball.

    Johnson put the Hearts ahead in the first quarter when he weaved his way through the whole of Olney’s defense for a 26-yard touchdown run. But that was just the opening act of the Grant Johnson Show. The Effingham junior finished the game with 239 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries to lead the Hearts to a 35-6 win against the Tigers on Friday night at Klosterman Field.

    “Grant, he’s about impossible to tackle,” backfield teammate Dereck Reedy said. “I expect him to do that often.”

    The Hearts (4-1, 4-0 Apollo Conference) found themselves in nearly the same situation toward the end of the second quarter as they faced in the third quarter last week at Newton. Stuck deep in its own territory, Effingham had 97 yards to go for a touchdown.

    Against the Eagles, Johnson took care of all that yardage with one burst of speed down the right sideline after breaking free from several Newton tacklers. 

    Tyler Doty got the first carry for Effingham with 97 yards to go against Olney (1-4, 0-4). Johnson followed Doty’s rush for no gain with a 15-yard run. Out of safety range at the 18-yard line, Johnson got the ball again and broke free for an 82-yard rush.

    That long run should have been another Effingham touchdown, but like what happened against Newton, this long run was called back after a holding penalty was called on the Hearts.

    So instead of an 82-yard touchdown, Johnson carried the ball three more times for gains of 17 yards, 12 yards and capped the Hearts’ drive with a 55-yard touchdown run. Johnson rounded out his 186 rushing yards in the first half with a 2-yard gain and a 43-yard scamper to set up a 2-yard touchdown run from junior quarterback John Jones. 

    “Grant made up for a lot,” Effingham coach Mike McDonald said. “He did a good job breaking some tackles, and he’s tough to bring down.”

    The holding penalty on Johnson’s would-be 82-yard run wasn’t the only penalty that hurt the Hearts. Like against Newton last week, Effingham penalties stalled their own drives and extended several seemingly stopped Olney drives.

    The Hearts have their defense to thank for those penalties and extended Olney drives not culminating in any touchdowns for the Tigers. Tyler Pilcher had two interceptions off Olney sophomore quarterback Justin Bailey, and Doty slipped in front of a Tigers’ receiver for another pick in the first half.

    “As much as a team like that throws the ball, you have to make them pay,” McDonald said. “We were anticipating getting some picks.”

    Forcing some of Bailey’s bad throws was Effingham’s front seven. McDonald said he wanted to get pressure on Bailey. Two plays into the game, Sean Dammerman and Bo Nosbisch broke into the Olney backfield, pressured Bailey and forced him into a wobbly throw that was nearly picked off in the middle of the field.

    “Working more on the secondary and getting more penetration,” Effingham defensive lineman Jesse Bushue said were the keys to facing the pass-heavy Tigers. “I think our defensive line did really good tonight, and so did our secondary.”

    Bailey finished the game 11-of-25 for 195 yards with one 64-yard touchdown pass to Joel Eagleson with 7 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

    The Hearts answered Olney’s touchdown with another score from Johnson. This time, Johnson again lined up behind Effingham’s “heavy package” of Dammeron, Doty and Nate Boggs and rolled off a 53-yard score to go with his 55-yarder behind the same blockers earlier in the game. McDonald said he uses the “heavy package” to get some of his primarily defensive players into the game on offense — a change he said they enjoy.

    “It’s more of a personnel change than it is a formation change,” McDonald said. “It’s just a bigger group of guys and more experienced group with juniors and seniors. It gives us some extra beef up front.”

    Johnson didn’t play much offensively at the end of the game. The majority of the carries went to Reedy (33 yards on seven carries) and Tyler Bushue (30 yards on seven carries).

    “We try and spread the ball around and get the defense looking at different things,” Reedy said.

    That wasn’t McDonald’s only reason for spelling Johnson on offense.

    “I have to be a little careful since he plays full-time defense and he helps return kicks and kicks for us,” McDonald said. “Grant’s out there a lot.”

    There were plenty of quarterback keepers late in the game as well. Effingham completed its 35-6 victory with Jones’ second touchdown run of the game with 2:31 to play in the fourth quarter. Jones scored from 10 yards out to cap a 19-carry, 93-yard performance.

    The Hearts have an extra day to prepare for their next game. Effingham is set to face Mount Zion on Oct. 2 — a Saturday afternoon. The Braves are unbeaten in Apollo play and face similarly undefeated Robinson today.







Effingham 35, Olney 6



Olney 0 0 6 0 -6



Effingham 7 15 6 7 -35



Scoring Summary



First quarter



Effingham — Grant Johnson 26 run (Johnson kick good), 3:32



Second quarter



Effingham — Johnson 55 run (John Jones run good), 4:17



Effingham — Jones 2 run (Johnson kick good), 1:31



Third quarter



Olney — Justin Bailey 64 pass to Joel Eagleson (Bailey pass no good), 7:58



Effingham — Johnson 53 run (Johnson kick blocked), 6:34



Fourth quarter



Effingham — Jones 10 run (Johnson kick good), 2:31



Individual Statistics



Rushing



Effingham — Grant Johnson 10-239, 3 TD; John Jones 19-93, 2 TD; Tyler Bushue 7-30; Brady Walker 1-2; Dereck Reedy 7-33; Tyler Doty 2-3; Nate McDonald 3-6; Keith Lasher 1-3



Olney — Brook Pampe 1-0; Aaron Foerster 3-3; Jake Combs 10-7; Stephan Levitt 1-(-5); Justin Bailey 3-(-3); Devon Johnson 5-18



Passing



Effingham — Jones 3-11-20



Olney — Bailey 11-25-195, TD, 3 INT; Nolan Shan 1-1-3



Receiving



Effingham — Zach Worman 1-(-1); McDonald 1-11; Reedy 1-10



Olney — Pampe 4-76; Gabe McVaigh 4-23; Joel Eagleson 3-67, TD; Levitt 2-32