Oct. 13—EFFINGHAM — Lucas Dyer had a day against the Effingham Flaming Hearts on Friday at Klosterman Field at Washington Savings Bank Stadium.
The Mahomet-Seymour quarterback threw for 341 yards on 15-of-25 passing and four touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ 49-0 win.
“I knew he was good; he was good last year,” said Effingham head coach Brett Hefner of Dyer. “Think about how good they’d be if No. 1 was still playing.”
The player that Hefner was referring to was Trey Peters. Committed to Illinois for football, Peters didn’t play due to injury.
Others stepped up in Peters’ absence.
All of Dyers’ numbers came in the first half, too.
Dyer connected with Bryson Tiefenthaler for a 57-yard score with 10:36 left in the first quarter. He then hit Ray Long for a 16-yard touchdown, Gavin Hammerschmidt for a 54-yard score and Tiefenthaler, again, from seven yards away.
Mahomet-Seymour scored on all six of its drives in the first half.
“There’s a reason they have the success that they’ve had,” Hefner said. “The quality of people that they’ve played in the non-conference, and a lot of those guys played a lot of football last year; they didn’t play many seniors. They’re a very good team.”
The Bulldogs opened the game with a five-play drive. The Hearts committed a false start penalty that pushed M-S to the 27-yard line. Dyer threw an incomplete pass before an 11-yard completion to Tiefenthaler. He then had another incomplete pass and Cade Ashby followed with a five-yard run before the first touchdown throw.
The Bulldogs defense forced a punt on the first EHS series. The lone positive play for the Hearts came when Jaxon Bridges hit Maxx Kistler for a 14-yard completion, pushing EHS to midfield.
M-S followed with an eight-play drive. Hammerschmidt ran for four yards on the first play. Dyer then hit Hammerschmidt for six before completing a 35-yard pass to Mason Orton. Hammerschmidt then gained nine yards before a 10-yard run. Dyer then found Long with 5:21 left, making it 14-0.
The Hearts then turned the ball over on downs and the Bulldogs capitalized, scoring in two plays with 2:52 left in the opening period. Ashby then scored on a 19-yard run with 10:18 left in the second.
Henry Wagner picked up a fumble after a bad snap went over the head of Max Buzzard. Wagner scooped the ball up at the three-yard line and Ashby scored three plays later. Dyer then found Tiefenthaler with 4:33 left, ending the first half with the Bulldogs ahead, 42-0.
Tiefenthaler had 124 receiving yards on four catches. Hammerschmidt had 102 yards receiving on five catches and 14 yards rushing on two carries. Orton had 92 yards receiving on four catches and Long had 23 receiving yards on two catches.
“At the end of the day, it’s the same thing we’ve struggled with all year. It doesn’t seem to matter what coverage we play; we’re giving up way too much through the air,” Hefner said. “Then we’re having trouble getting consistent pressure on the quarterback.”
Bridges had 81 passing yards on 7-of-14 passing for EHS. Kistler had 63 yards receiving on five catches. Kaden Koeberlein had one catch for 14 and Nolan Fearday had one for five yards.
Weldon Dunston had 21 yards rushing on 13 carries. Buzzard had 17 on three carries.
Effingham returns to the field Friday at Mt. Zion. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Alex Wallner can be reached at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.
