SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2005-2

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 2, the Mustangs of South Western traveled to the Warriors of Gettysburg and were shut out 27-0. This one boiled down to the Evan Lewis and Terrill Barnes show. Lewis, only a sophomore, completed 15 of 20 passes for 269-yards and his favorite receiver was Barnes, who caught 9 passes for 189-yards, including touchdowns of 69, 15 and 20-yards. Just to add a little variety, Lewis also threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to J. D. Stahl. And a 62-yard touchdown pass to Barnes was wiped out by a holding penalty.

The Mustangs actually got off to a promising start, with a drive from their 10-yard line to the 1-yard line of the Warriors. 36 and 18-yard runs by Tim Smith and a nifty 31-yard jaunt by Joe Ault highlighted the drive. A penalty put them back to the 6 and in interception in the end zone by Barnes ended the threat. Barnes also ended another drive with an interception near midfield.

Matt Bosley, who had 13 tackles for the night, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Jesse Smith and Tim Smith who each had 10 tackles. Jeremy Renoll had 4 tackles and also had a sack and 2 “hurries” to break up pass attempts. He also recovered what was a blocked pass in my book but may be recorded as a fumble recovery, and he blocked the extra point attempt after the Warriors last touchdown.

Mark Bittinger, Seth Bolte, Matt Bosley, Chad La Gore, Jeremy Renoll, Aaron Repman, Clint Shaffer, Dustin Shaw, Cody Shue, Jesse Smith, Jason Sneeringer, Drew Snyder, Mike Stremmel, Eric Updegrove, Chris Wilson and Ben Yelton manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions. Justin Barnes, Robert Barnett, Matt Ferguson, Adam Hartman, Curtis Maphis, Cody Smith, Tim Smith and Max Wagaman patrolled the secondary.

The Mustangs gained 125-yards rushing and 78-yards passing for a total of 203 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 7 passes for the 78-yards. Drew Snyder caught 2 passes for 48-yards, Jason Gigous caught 3 for 12, Cody Smith caught 1 for 12 and Jeremy Renoll caught 1 for 6-yards. Joe Ault led the rushing attack with 11 carries for 58-yards, followed by Tim Smith with 3 for 55-yards, Jason Gigous with 3 for 18-yards, Cody Smith with 3 for 10-yards, Robert Barnett with 2 for 2-yards and J. C. Laughlin with 3 for minus yardage.

The Gettysburg Warriors rang up 155-yards rushing and 269 yards passing for a total of 424 yards gained. Evan Lewis accounted for the entire passing yardage with his 15 completions. Besides the 189-yards to Barnes, Tim Monahan caught 2 passes for 43-yards and J. D. Stahl had 4 receptions for 37-yards. Chris Vivaldi led the Warriors rushing attack with 17 carries for 119-yards, followed by Barnes with 4 for 13-yards, Brandon Brookens with 2 for 11-yards, Tony Hill with 6 for 8-yards, Lewis with 3 for 3-yards, Cody Trail with 2 for 2-yards and Storm Woerner with a carry for minus 1-yard.

Gettysburg hopes to be a contender in the Capital Division of the Mid Penn Conference. The Mustangs are still hoping to do the same in Division I of the YAIAA this year.

The South Western Mustang Marching Band and the 22-member Mustang Cheer Leading squad were both very impressive crowd pleasers. The 7-time Cavalcade of Bands Champion, a 2000 Tournament of Bands Champion and US Scholastic Band Champion Mustang Marching Band’s 2005 musical program is entitled “Festive Overtures: A Holiday Collage” and features the majestic fanfare of Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture” and Russian Sailors’ Dance from the ballet, “Red Poppy.” The Gettysburg Warriors Marching Band ably performed sections of Beethoven’s 5th, 6th and 9th symphonies and “America The Beautiful.”

The Mustangs of South Western are 0-1-0 overall and 0-0-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 150-57-1 (.725) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 291-175-8. The results of the 473 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .624 winning percentage and a .631 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs host the District 6 powerhouse Golden Tigers of Hollidaysburg at the Mustang Corral. Hollidaysburg opened the season with a 24-19 win over Altoona. The Mustangs got off to a shaky start in their season opener but are looking to get back on track and resume their winning ways. GO MUSTANGS GO.