Taylorville is back in the win column after a gritty win away to Effingham, 28-21.  Four different Tornadoes found the end zone as the purple-and-gold broke the Hearts of Effingham on the latter's homecoming.

The home side struck first as Lexton Roberts took advantage of good blocking downfield for a sixty-yard score on the right side.  The touchdown gave the team in red the edge late in the first quarter. 

Offenses through much of the second quarter struggled to get going, thanks in part to several penalties, mostly against Effingham.  Late in the second quarter, as Taylorville drove down the field, Repscher threw what appeared to be an interception returned for a touchdown.  However, the officials adjudged the junior quarterback to have been roughed.  Repscher then engineered a quality drive, ending with a perfect 7-yard touchdown pass to Malique Pearce in the corner of the end zone.  The dime levelled the scores when Taylorville could instead have trailed by two touchdowns. 

In the third quarter, the Tornadoes forced their opponents into a three-and-out before driving themselves up the field with smashmouth football accompanied with big passing plays.  Spencer Brown capped it off with a 14-yard drive to give his side the lead.  They doubled the advantage less than two minutes later with another defensive three-and-out followed by a 73-yard pass from Repscher to Wyatt Younker.

Effingham needed big plays in the fourth quarter and got one early.  Jaxon Bridges found Maxx Kistler for 29 yards just minutes into the quarter.   Taylorville responded by driving methodically for a touchdown of their own.  Owen Mateer capped the series with a three-yard run into the end zone.  Less than a minute later, Bridges and Kistler connected again for a score, this time from 78 yards.

That was the last time they touched the ball as the Tornadoes turned to the running game to drain the clock.  Isaac Repscher paired good decision-making in the pass with good gains on the ground to bring his team to victory and earn the title of Nicole Patrick Country Financial Player of the Game.

Taylorville moves to 2-3 as they host Mattoon next week.  For Effingham, the defeat ends a three-match winning run as they turn their attention to Mahomet-Seymour on the road.