South WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2005-3

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 9, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Golden Tigers of Hollidaysburg and were upended 37-20. Matt Wimbush with 45-yards and David Rahoi with 43-yards, led the Golden Tigers rushing attack but the real story was sophomore sensation Patrick Smith, who entered the game in the third quarter and completed 4 of 4 passes for 162-yards and 3 touchdowns, 51 and 57-yards to Jared Colmer and 12-yards to Ryan Conway. David Rahoi threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Jake Vite to open the scoring, Mike Heist returned an interception 18-yards for a touchdown and Garrett Clawson kicked a 40-yard field goal for the Golden Tigers. Clawson also kicked 4 extra points, punted 6 times for 202-yards and kicked off 7 times for 371-yards, including 4 touchbacks.

The Mustangs also thrilled the crowd with exciting plays. On their first offensive play following the Jake Vite touchdown for the Golden Tigers Cody Smith, who rushed for a net of 69-yards on the night, scored a touchdown on an electrifying 80-yard jaunt. J. C. Laughlin passed for 52-yards, including a 14-yard touchdown to Jeremy Renoll. Aaron Repman returned 3 punts for 91-yards and 3 kickoffs for 69-yards.

And junior kicking sensation Drew Snyder kicked a school record 47-yard field goal and a 37-yard field goal. He is already tied for the school career field goal kicking record with 10. He also kicked 2 extra points, punted 8 times for 375-yards, for a 46.9-yard average, and kicked off 4 times for 201-yards, including a touchback.

Matt Bosley with 11 tackles and Jeremy Renoll with 10 tackles for the night, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Tim Smith who seemed to be all over the field as he had 9 tackles and 3 pass breakups. Chad La Gore recovered an onside kick for the Mustangs.

Joe Ault, Mark Bittinger, Seth Bolte, Matt Bosley, Jason Gigous, 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 124-yards rushing and 52-yards passing for a total of 176 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 6 passes for the 52-yards. Jeremy Renoll caught 2 passes for 27-yards, Tim Smith caught 2 for 6, Jesse Smith caught 1 for 10 and Joe Ault caught 1 for 9-yards. Cody Smith led the rushing attack with 4 carries for 69-yards, followed by J. C. Laughlin with 5 for 20, Jason Gigous with 4 for 12, Tim Smith with 6 for 11, and Joe Ault with 8 for 12-yards.

The Hollidaysburg Golden Tigers rang up 124-yards rushing and 213 yards passing for a total of 337 yards gained. David Rahoi completed 3 of 12 passes for 51-yards and a touchdown and Patrick Smith went 4 for 4 for 162-yards and 3 touchdowns. Rahoi led the rushing attack with 10 carries for 43-yards, followed by Matt Wimbush with 10 for 41, Brandon Long with 6 for 15, Colmer with 1 for 12-yards, Nick Milardo with 2 for 7, Greg Kanski with 3 for 4, David Glunt with 1 for 4, Brad Nocek with 1 for 3, Jared Wilson with 2 for 2-yards, and David Lafferty with 1 for minus yardage. Colmer caught 3 passes for 113-yards, followed by Jake Vite with 3 for 88-yards and Ryan Conway with 1 for 12-yards.

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 Golden Tigers Marching Band entertained the halftime crowd with “A Salute To Swing,” featuring “Strike Up The Band,” “April In Paris,” and “Big Noise From Winnetka.”

The Mustangs of South Western are 0-2-0 overall and 0-0-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 150-58-1 (.721) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 291-176-8. The results of the 475 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .623 winning percentage and a .630 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs visit the Warriors of Susquehannock. Susquehannock defeated New Oxford 35-7 in it’s opener and is coming off of a 31-14 victory over Bermudian Springs. From here it looks like the Mustangs are due to get back on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.