SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2006-4

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 15, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Thunderbolts of Littlestown and came away with a hard earned 14-3 victory. The first half ended with a scoreless tie as the defenses reigned supreme. Seth Barnes intercepted a Thunderbolts pass at the Mustangs 34-yard line to stop a drive, and he batted down 3 passes that could have continued drives for the Thunderbolts. Jesse Smith intercepted another Thunderbolts pass in the second half to seal the win. The Mustangs Drew Snyder recovered a fumble by the Thunderbolts at the Mustangs 30-yard line and Duane Rowlette recovered one at the Mustangs 25-yard line to stop 2 Thunderbolt drives.

The second half started off as a continuation of the defensive struggle as the Mustangs punted after three and out. The Thunderbolts finally got untracked and mustered a 14-play 54-yard drive that ended with a 28-yard field goal by Charlie Hunt midway through the quarter. The defensive struggle then continued and a couple of sacks by the Thunderbolts, one by Adam DeGroft, held the Mustangs in check.

Early in the 4th quarter the Mustangs started a drive at the Thunderbolts 45-yard line after a punt by the Thunderbolts. Quarterback J. C. Laughlin lofted a beautiful 40-yard pass to Drew Snyder at the 5-yard line and 2 plays later Eric Updegrove plunged in from the three and the Mustangs took a 7-3 lead after Snyder’s extra point kick at the 10:51 point.

Snyder’s kickoff went for a touchback and the Thunderbolts ended up punting to the Mustangs at the 49-yard line of the Thunderbolts. Jason Gigous gained 2-yards, Aaron Repman lost 3, and a penalty put the ball on the Thunderbolts 45-yard line. Donnie Brady ripped off a 25-yard run to the 20, Gigous added 9 more yards to the 11, and Brady gained 2 more to the 9. Repman scampered to the 1 and then scored on a 1-yard plunge. Snyder’s extra point kick upped the score to 14-3 with 7:23 left in the game.

Snyder registered another touchback on the kickoff and each team ended up punting after three and outs. The interception by Jesse Smith at the Thunderbolts 35-yard line with 2:52 left in the game sealed the victory for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs were playing without the services of running backs Tim Smith and Shawn Rider, both out with injuries, and overcame that with their talented bevy of running backs.

Jason Gigous led the Mustangs with 20 tackles (no, that is not a typo, he had 11 solo tackles and 9 assists), followed by Jesse Smith with 12 tackles, Jason Sneeringer with 10, Drew Snyder with 9, Chris Wilson with 8, Duane Rowlette with 7, Chad LaGore and Mike Stremmel with 6 each, Bryan Bosley, Corwyn Gordon and Cody Shue with 5 each, Seth Barnes with 4, Dan Dukes with 3, Eric Updegrove with 2 and Donnie Brady and Dan Brenneman with 1 each. Barnes also had the interception and 3 pass breakups, Smith had his interception and Rowlette and Snyder had their fumble recoveries. Brady and Stremmel were each credited with a pass breakup. Gigous, Updegrove and Wilson were each credited with hurrying a pass and Chad LaGore was credited with causing a fumble by the Thunderbolts.

Seth Barnes returned a kickoff for 16-yards and Jason Gigous returned 2 punts for 26-yards, with the longest going for 25-yards. Drew Snyder kicked off 3 times for 178-yards, including 2 touchbacks. He punted 6 times for 195-yards, for a 32.5-yard average, with the longest going for 40-yards.

Bryan Bosley, Donnie Brady, 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, Duane Rowlette, Mike Stremmel and Kory Yelton patrolled the secondary.

The Mustangs gained 102-yards rushing and 72-yards passing for a total of 174 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 4 of 12 passes for the 72-yards, including 2 for 31-yards to Jesse Smith, 1 for 40-yards to Drew Snyder and 1 for 1-yard to Donnie Brady. Jason Gigous led the rushing attack with 8 carries for 35-yards, followed by Donnie Brady with 6 for 32-yards, Aaron Repman with 8 for 20, including a 1-yard touchdown, Eric Updegrove with 6 for 14, including a 3-yard touchdown, Seth Barnes with 1 for 2-yards and J. C. Laughlin with 6 for minus 1-yard.

The Littlestown Thunderbolts gained 126-yards rushing as Brian Zelanko had 23 carries for 70-yards, followed by Cory Beaver with 17 for 46-yards, and Luke Reichart with 6 for 10-yards. Reichart completed 9 passes for 99-yards. Nate Murren led the Thunderbolts receivers with 2 catches for 43-yards, followed by Cory Beaver with 2 for 18, Kameron Armacost with 2 for 16, Jordan Staub 2 for 13, and Jeramey Justice with 1 for 9-yards.

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

Don Seidenstricker has a 156-63-1 (.712) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 297-181-8. The results of the 486 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .621 winning percentage and a .628 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs begin league play and host the Wildcats of Dallastown at the Mustang Corral. Dallastown is coming off of a 20-13 victory over the Bulldogs of West York. From here it looks like the Mustangs are set to continue galloping along on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.