EFFINGHAM — Film and preparation can only take you so far against a dynamic running back.
At the end of the day, players still have to execute.
That’s what the Effingham football team did against Charleston on Friday night and the Trojans’ star running back, Treylin Couch.
“Everybody can yell, ‘Stop him,’ but you come out here and tackle him; it’s a little different story,” head coach Brett Hefner said. “We’ve had some pretty good [running backs] here. It’s easier said than done.”
The game plan against Couch was to keep him contained.
“The plan was to try and commit as many people to the box as we could. We wanted to keep him contained,” Hefner said. “The most impressive thing about him is his yards after contact. The first hit doesn’t bring him down very often.”
Couch finished with 231 yards on 23 carries and four touchdowns. He set the all-time rushing record for the Trojans during the game.
He got off to a hot start, too.
It looked like it was going to be a long evening for the Flaming Hearts after Charleston’s first series of the game.
On the first play from scrimmage for the Trojans, Couch sprinted past several Effingham defenders for a 65-yard touchdown to give Charleston a touchdown lead, after the successful point-after, with 11:48 left in the opening quarter.
Couch’s run was the longest run of the night for him.
Following the score, the Hearts worked a nine-play drive down to the Trojans’ 17-yard line.
Senior quarterback Jack Hartman opened the series with a two-yard pass to junior wide receiver Jenner Pals. Junior running back Lexton Roberts then gained 15 yards, pushing the chains past midfield and into Charleston territory.
Hartman and Pals connected once more for 10 yards before an 18-yard run from Roberts moved Effingham down to the 20.
Roberts then rushed for another three yards.
The Hearts failed to capitalize after that, turning the ball over on downs after Roberts was brought down at the line of scrimmage and Hartman threw back-to-back incomplete passes after a pair of dropped balls.
Effingham’s defense held strong on the Trojans’ second possession.
Junior quarterback Brody Wilson threw an incomplete pass. Couch gained two yards and Wilson was sacked in the backfield by junior defensive back Cole Henderson.
An abysmal punt from Charleston saw the Hearts setting up at the Trojans’ 25-yard line.
Much like the first drive, once Effingham got in the red zone or near it, no points followed.
Roberts was brought down in the backfield for a three-yard loss. Hartman then threw an incomplete pass.
Hartman then found junior wide receiver Ian Kinkelaar for eight yards to set up fourth-and-5 from the 20.
Hartman’s intended pass to Pals was dropped, leaving the Hearts with a second successive turnover on downs from scoring position on their first two drives.
Pals made up for that drop on the next offensive series.
Following a Charleston three-and-out, Pals caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Hartman after he high-pointed the ball and made the defender miss the tackle. Senior Brady Patnaude’s point-after followed to tie the game with 2:28 remaining in the first.
The Trojans set up their next drive at their 33-yard line, but went three-and-out again. Charleston ran a play for zero yards and threw an incomplete pass before senior defensive end Clinton Metcalf sacked Wilson in the backfield for a nine-yard loss.
The Hearts punted on their next drive.
Couch ran for nine yards on the first play of the Trojans’ ensuing series. They then threw an incomplete pass, followed by a run for no gain. Charleston then fumbled the ball near midfield, junior safety Sam Waymoth recovering it, to give Effingham a fresh set of downs.
Sophomore quarterback Jenner Keyes showed off his running ability, pushing the ball down to the Trojans’ 33-yard line before another run from Keyes went for three more yards.
Keyes then threw an incomplete pass. Roberts then moved the chains down to the nine-yard line after a gain of 21. Keyes then rushed for three more yards and sophomore running back Bryden Kade did the rest, scoring from six yards away to make it 14-7 with 7:04 left in the first half.
Charleston ended up scoring once more before halftime on a Couch 38-yard run. The Trojans’ extra-point attempt missed, though, leaving Effingham with a one-point advantage heading into the break.
The Hearts outscored Charleston, 30-14, in the second half.
“I’m proud of our kids and happy for our kids,” Hefner said. “We had our best week of practice [last week] and I thought our second half was really clean.”
Hartman threw for 206 yards on 11-of-17 passing and three touchdowns.
“Second half, he played well,” Hefner said. “He’s a smart player and when he knows where to go with the ball and when he’s consistent with his mechanics, he’s pretty good.”
Pals caught seven passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns.
“Jenner gave us a spark,” Hefner said. “[His play] changed the tempo of the game.”
Kinkelaar caught two passes for 12 yards. Sophomore Brayden Baudier had one catch for 10. Junior Carter Kalber had one catch for three.
Defensively, Mason Bushue finished with five tackles, one for loss, and one blocked punt.
So far this season, Bushue has a team-best 31 tackles, two for loss.
“He played quite a bit of football last year and we expected big things out of him this year,” Hefner said. “He’s a tremendously hard worker and doesn’t take days off. He has to call the defense, get everybody set and still play.”