SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2005-7

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Monday evening, October 10, the Mustangs of South Western traveled to the beautiful newly renovated Smalls Athletic Field to take on the Bearcats of William Penn of York (4-2 overall, 1-1 YAIAA Division I) and were shut out 14-0 in a weird game that saw the Mustangs run off 71 plays to only 37 for the Bearcats. A 97-yard touchdown run by Shavell Jones on a burst up the middle and an 80-yard-jaunt around the end by Lamar Hughes sealed the deal for the Bearcats. Jones rushed for 170-yards and Hughes for 128-yards.

A ten play 38-yard drive by the Mustangs, from their own 35-yard line to the Bearcats 27, ended on a turnover on downs. The Mustangs begin another drive at the 32-yard line and Joe Ault ran off a beautiful 40-yard dash, only to have the ball knocked out of his hands at the Bearcats 7-yard line. The Bearcats recovered the fumble. The Mustangs began a 68-yard drive at their own 9-yard line, featuring a 37-yard pass from J. C. Laughlin to Robert Barnett, and turned the ball over on downs at the Bearcats 23-yard line. And that all happened in the first half.

Aaron Repman opened the second half for the Mustangs by returning the kickoff 27-yards to the mid field stripe. Ten plays later, featuring runs by Ault, Barnett and Cody Smith, saw the Mustangs again turn the ball over on downs at the Bearcats 14-yard line. They had reached the 3-yard line and a penalty moved them back to the 18. A fourth quarter drive started at the Mustangs 27-yard line and ended with a Drew Snyder punt into the end zone from the Bearcats 43-yard line. The drive featured two passes from Laughlin to Jeremy Renoll, for 12 and 17-yards. The Mustangs final drive started at their own 42-yard line and ended with a turnover at the Bearcats 12-yard line. The drive featured a 28-yard pass from Laughlin to Drew Snyder.

Aaron Repman returned the three Bearcats kickoffs for 59-yards, with the longest going for 27-yards. He also returned three punts for 20-yards, with the longest going for 8-yards. Jason Gigous returned two punts for 18-yards, with the longest going for 12-yards. Drew Snyder punted 7 times for 256-yards, for a 36.6-yard average, with the longest going for 50-yards to the end zone. His one kickoff went for a whopping 60-yards and a touchback for the Mustangs.

Tim Smith led the Mustangs defense with 12 tackles and Matt Bosley followed with 10 tackles. Dustin Shaw had two quarterback sacks. Other than the 177-yards in the two plays when the speedy Jones and Hughes outran everyone, the Mustangs stingy defense held the Bearcats to 109-yards rushing and a total offense of 127-yards. While it doesn’t show up on the scoreboard, this was overall a great defensive showing by 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 168-yards rushing and 110-yards passing for a total of 278 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 8 of 21 passes for the 110-yards. Robert Barnett caught 2 for 45-yards, Jeremy Renoll caught 2 for 29-yards, Drew Snyder caught 1 for 29-yards, Joe Ault caught 1 for 18-yards, and Jason Gigous caught 1 for minus 6-yards. Joe Ault led the rushing attack with 20 carries for 100-yards, followed by Robert Barnett with 8 for 38, Cody Smith with 6 for 21, Aaron Repman with 2 for 10, Tim Smith with 3 for 3 and J. C. Laughlin with 10 for minus 4-yards.

The Bearcats rang up 286-yards rushing and 18-yards passing for a total of 304-yards of offense. Tisen Dickson completed 2 passes for the 18-yards, 1 to Lamar Hughes for 16-yards and 1 to Brandon Wright for 2-yards. Shavell Jones led the rushing attack with 15 carries for 170-yards and his touchdown, followed by Lamar Hughes with 11 carries for 128-yards and his touchdown, Byron Keys with a carry for 7-yards, Randell Preston with a carry for no yards and Tisen Dicksen with 4 carries for minus yardage.

The 22-member Mustangs Cheer Leading Squad roused their faithful fans throughout the night. The Bearcats Marching Band thrilled the halftime crowd with their show “Portrait of a Nation, with stirring renditions of “In Defense of Liberty,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Little Liza Jane,” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

The Mustangs of South Western are 1-5-0 overall and 1-2-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 151-61-1 (.712) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 292-179-8. The results of the 479 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .620 winning percentage and a .626 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs travel to Horn Field to take on the Lions of Red Lion (2-4 overall, 1-1 YAIAA Division I). The Lions are coming off of an 18-0 victory over the winless Golden Mules of Solanco. From here it looks like the Mustangs are ready to gallop, and their stingy defense should help them to get on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.