SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2006-6

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 29, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Rockets of Spring Grove and galloped to an impressive 35-7 victory. Running back Tim Smith led the charge as he ended the Mustangs 71-yard opening drive with a 28-yard touchdown scamper. Chad LaGore kept the drive alive with a fumble recovery that he advanced for 5-yards and a first down.

The Rockets then went 3 and out and punted, the Mustangs went 3 and out and punted, and the Rockets again went 3 and out and punted. The Mustangs then had a 19-yard drive end with a missed 30-yard field goal attempt. The Rockets countered with a 35-yard drive but Chris Wilson ended that with a fumble recovery for the Mustangs on their own 45-yard line. Six plays later J. C. Laughlin hit Drew Snyder in stride for a beautiful 31-yard touchdown and the Mustangs went up 14-0 at 7:17 of the second quarter.

The Rockets punted from their own 8-yard line on their next possession and the Mustangs ended up with a short field at the 25. Seven plays later saw Tim Smith plunge in from the 3-yard line for his second touchdown.

Purnell Richardson then ignited the crowd with a 47-yard kickoff return but after 3 incomplete passes the Rockets punted to the Mustangs 7-yard line, and the first half ended shortly thereafter with the Mustangs on top 21-0.

The Rockets mounted a 75-yard drive to open the second half. Runs by Matt Duncan and Purnell Richardson and a pass from Trapnell to Derek Spangler led to a 10-yard touchdown strike from Trapnell to Josh Miller for a 21-7 score.

The Mustangs countered immediately with 77-yard drive ending with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Laughlin to Snyder, for a 28-7 score. The Rockets went 3 and out and punted and Aaron Repman returned the punt 27-yards to the Rockets 27-yard line. Two plays later Laughlin lofted a perfect spiral to Jesse Snyder in the corner of the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown that was the final score of the game and upped the score to 35-7 with 2:10 left in the third quarter. Both teams then emptied their benches for the rest of the game.

Jason Gigous (who led the team with 9 tackles), Chad LaGore and Chris Wilson each recorded a sack, Bryan Shanklin had an interception, and Wilson recovered a fumble for the Mustangs. Seth Barnes, Corwyn Gordon, Jason Sneeringer and Drew Snyder each had 5 tackles; Bryan Bosley, Donnie Brady, Dan Dukes, Tim Smith, and Jesse Smith each had 4 tackles; Chad LaGore and Cody Shue had 3 tackles and a host of Mustangs registered one or two tackles for the Mustangs. Seth Barnes, Jesse Smith and Chris Wilson broke up or batted down passes for the Mustangs.

Seth Barnes returned 3 punts for 49-yards, with the longest going for 31-yards, and Aaron Repman returned 3 punts for 44-yards, with the longest going for 28-yards. Repman also returned 2 kickoffs for 31-yards, with the longest going for 21-yards. Drew Snyder kicked off 6 times for 338-yards, including 2 touchbacks. Snyder punted once for 42-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, Tim Smith, Mike Stremmel and Kory Yelton patrolled the secondary.

The Mustangs gained 303-yards rushing and 89-yards passing for a total of 392 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 4 of 7 passes for the 73-yards and 3 touchdowns, including touchdowns of 31 and 8-yards to Drew Snyder (who caught 3 passes for 46-yards) and a 27-yard touchdown to Jesse Smith, and Dan Brenneman completed a pass for 16-yards to Josh Rummel. Tim Smith lead the rushing attack with 108-yards and 2 touchdowns, followed by Eric Updegrove with 70-yards, Aaron Repman with 40, Donnie Brady with 38, Bryan Shanklin with 23, Chris Helwig with 9, Travis Scott with 8, Justin Barnes with 5, Seth Barnes with 2-yards and J. C. Laughlin with a yard. John Bingham had 1 carry for minus a yard.

The Spring Grove Rockets gained 67-yards rushing and 18-yards passing for a total offense of 85-yards. Trapnell completed 3 passes for the 18-yards, to Brough for no gain, Josh Miller for 11-yards, and Derek Spangler for 7-yards. Eric Brough led the rushing attack with 6 carries for 46-yards, followed by Purnell Richardson with 1 for 10, Matt Duncan with 3 for 5, Trevor Trapnell with 14 for 4, Corey Kopp with 1 for 1, and Dan Stambaugh with 1 for 1-yard.

Purnell Richardson returned 3 kickoffs for 77-yards, with the longest going for 47-yards, and Eric Brough returned one for 28-yards. Matt Duncan returned one punt for no yardage. Trapnell punted 7 times for 260-yards for a 37.14-yard average, with the longest going for 48-yards, for the Rockets.

The 105 member strong South Western Mustang Marching Band, 9-time Cavalcade of Bands Champion, a 2000 Tournament of Bands Champion and US Scholastic Band Champion provided the half-time entertainment with the 2006 musical program entitled “Colourful Rythms,” which featured musical themes from the Millennium Celebration at Epcot Center, including “Time Prologue,” “Chaos,” “Life” and “Celebration.” Then followed the main theme from the Cirque du Soleil production, “Journey of Man” and “Tribal Mustang.” The closing number was a “lilting” Irish melody leading to the majestic strains of “We Go On.” The 63 member strong Rockets Marching Band (The Blue Crew) entertained before the game with a rousing performance with the theme “Dancing to The Moon,” including “How High to the Moon,” “Moondance,” and “12 Seconds to the Moon.”

The Mustangs of South Western are 4-1-0 overall and 2-0-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 158-63-1 (.715) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 299-181-8. The results of the 488 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .623 winning percentage and a .629 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and host the Lions of Red Lion. The Lions are coming off of a 21-14 upset at the hands of the Panthers of Central York. From here it looks like the Mustangs are primed to gallop along on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.