Effingham dominates Lincoln in 47-0 rout

[October 10, 2022] 

[October 7, 2022] Lincoln – Last week’s lede for the Lincoln Daily News story about Lincoln’s football 27-7 victory on September 30 against Mattoon was, “What a difference a week made for the LCHS football team.”

The same introduction applies for the write-up on this week’s contest against Effingham, but unfortunately for the Railers, with the opposite meaning as Effingham dominated Lincoln in every facet of the game in a 47-0 loss for LCHS.

Lincoln fell to 3-4 overall after losing four of its last five games following a 2-0 start. During that most recent five-game stretch of their schedule, the Railers have been outscored by opponents 184-69.

“Not good on offense, not good on defense, not good in special teams, not good at anything tonight,” LCHS coach Matt Silkowski said in assessing the Railer effort against Effingham. “Early, we had opportunities but we had a failure to execute.”

For the second week in a row, Lincoln’s offense started out slow, with the Railers unable to move the ball and punting on their first possession. Effingham took over at its own 38-yard line, and while the Flaming Hearts generally had success moving the ball against Lincoln, the Railer defense held early.

Effingham faced a 4th-and-1 situation with 8:20 left in the first quarter, but a quarterback sneak by senior Tanner Pontious got the first down and extended the drive for the Flaming Hearts. With 7:12 remaining in the stanza, sophomore running back Wendell Dunston capped Effingham’s 62-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown run to open the scoring, and the PAT gave the Flaming Hearts a 7-0 advantage they never relinquished.

“We held them on third and long multiple times,” Silkowski said of the early showing by the Railer defense. “We took away the play they were looking for, but they were able to extend it and pick it up. It just deflated our guys and they had a very hard time rebounding back from that.”

As the score indicates, Effingham dominated the contest statistically. The Flaming Hearts gained 391 yards of total offense on 64 plays (6.1 yards per play) compared to 109 total yards on 46 plays for Lincoln (2.4 yards per play). The Railers gained 98 yards passing and 11 yards running compared to 122 yards through the air and 269 on the ground for Effingham. The Flaming Hearts also amassed 23 first downs while Lincoln only managed five.

Tate Johnson

Colbie Glenn

Isaac Decker and Tate Johnston led the Railer defense with 13 and 12 tackles, respectively. Decker also hauled in 3 passes on offense for 54 yards, including a 31-yard reception. In addition, Ki’on Carson caught two passes for 14 yards and Colbie Glenn caught a 27-yard pass for his lone reception of the game. Glenn also was credited with a fumble recovery on the defensive side for the Railers.

Isaac Decker

Ki'on Carson

In the running game, Paytan Bunner led Lincoln with 13 yards on 10 rushing attempts. Decker added 12 yards and Carson added eight for the Railers, who host Taylorville on October 14 in a 7 PM game at Handlin Field in Lincoln.

The loss to Effingham drops Lincoln to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in the Apollo Conference.

[Loyd Kirby]  Note: all statistics in this story are unofficial. Photo credits: Steve Klemm