SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2006-3

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 8, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Warriors of Susquehannock at the Mustang Corral and galloped through the mud for a convincing 37-0 victory. Jason Gigous started the show with a 59-yard kickoff return that led to a 29-yard field goal by old reliable Drew Snyder, the school record setting 15th of his career.

Shortly thereafter Jesse Smith got into the act by blocking a Warriors punt and recovering it in the end zone for a touchdown and the Mustangs jumped on top 9-0. Donnie Brady then got into the act with a 4-yard touchdown run to up the score to 15-0. Jesse Smith blocked another Warriors punt and that lead to J. C. Laughlin’s 19-yard touchdown run. Drew’s extra point kick made the score 22-0 near the end of the first quarter.

The Mustangs were playing without the services of running backs Tim Smith, Aaron Repman and Shawn Rider, all out with injuries, and overcame that with their talented bevy of running backs. Eric Updegrove joined the carnage with a 48-yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter and the halftime score was 28-0 in favor of the Mustangs.

Chris Wilson, with help from Chad LaGore, recorded a safety in the third quarter and Brady closed out the scoring with his second touchdown, a 15-yard scamper. Drew’s extra point kick made the final score 37-0. The over 35-point lead kept the clock running for the rest of the game and the Mustangs cleared the bench.

Zach Hagerman recovered a fumble and returned it 4-yards, Seth Barnes intercepted a pass and Duane Rowlette intercepted a pass and returned it 55-yards for the Mustangs. Rowlette also was credited with 2 pass defenses and Josh Rummel and Jesse Smith were each credited with a pass defense. Brian Bosley, Chad LaGore, Scott Raubenstine, Jason Sneeringer and Drew Snyder were in on sacks for the Mustangs. Jason Gigous led the Mustangs with 10 tackles, followed by LaGore and Snyder with 7 each, Chris Wilson with 6 and Seth Barnes with 5. Matt Ferguson, Sneeringer and Mike Stremmel each had 3 tackles and a host of other players recorded one or two.

Seth Barnes returned a kickoff for 42-yards and Gigous returned the one for 59-yards. Barnes also returned 2 punts for 13-yards, with the longest going for 10-yards. Drew Snyder kicked off 7 times for 320-yards, including a touchback. He punted 4 times for 166-yards, for a 41.5-yard average, with the longest going for 47-yards.

Bryan Bosley, Dan Dukes, Jason Gigous, Corwyn Gordon, Chad LaGore, Dale Mills, Cody Shue, Jesse Smith, Jason Sneeringer, Drew Snyder, Eric Updegrove and Chris Wilson manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions. Seth Barnes, J. C. Laughlin, Duane Rowlette, Mike Stremmel and Kory Yelton patrolled the secondary.

The Mustangs gained 200-yards rushing and 16-yards passing for a total of 216 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 1 of 5 passes for the 16-yards, to Jesse Smith. Eric Updegrove led the rushing attack with 9 carries for 91-yards and a touchdown, followed by Donnie Brady with 6 for 39-yards and 2 touchdowns, Jason Gigous with 6 for 34, J. C. Laughlin with 3 for 33 and a touchdown, Bryan Shanklin with 1 for 6, Seth Barnes with 1 for 3-yards, and Justin Barnes, Dan Brenneman and Travis Scott each rushed for minus yardage.

The Susquehannock Warriors netted minus 12-yards rushing as Dan Dixon had 4 carries for 15-yards, followed by Mike Kelly with 8 for 10-yards, and Josh Heyne and Patrick Miller each had minus yardage rushing. Heyne completed 8 passes for 61-yards and Miller completed 3 for 41-yards. Kelly led the Warriors receivers with 3 catches for 20-yards, followed by Dustin Connor with 3 for 19, Billy Kehr with 1 for 19, Aaron Hansen with 1 for 18, Dixon with 2 for 17, and Corey Shelton with 1 for 9-yards.

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

Don Seidenstricker has a 155-63-1 (.711) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 296-181-8. The results of the 485 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .621 winning percentage and a .627 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs visit the Thunderbolts of Littlestown. Littlestown is coming off of a 24-7 loss to the Rams of Kennard-Dale. From here it looks like the Mustangs are raring to gallop and expect to keep up their winning ways. GO MUSTANGS GO.