SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2006-7

By Bill Engelhardt

300 WINS
________

Last Friday evening, October 6, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Lions of Red Lion and galloped to an impressive 45-15 victory for the 300th win in the history of the school’s varsity football program. Eric Updegrove started things off by ending a Mustangs 65-yard 7-play drive with a 15-yard touchdown scamper. Running back Tim Smith had carried 4 times for 20-yards, Jason Gigous had added a 26-yard scamper and Updegrove had 2 carries for 19-yards on the drive.

It was largely the Tim Smith show as he gained 146-yards rushing. After Joe Ross had recovered a Mustangs fumble for the Lions, Smith almost immediately returned the favor and got the ball back for the Mustangs to set up a 51-yard, 3-play, drive. He ran for 2-yards, quarterback J. C. Laughlin ran for 10-yards and Smith took it the last 39-yards for a touchdown to put the Mustangs up 14-0 at 2:35 in the first quarter.

Taylor Gunder then brought the Lions back to life with a 74-yard, 8-play, drive that ended with his 9-yard touchdown pass to Trent Thomas. Gunder’s 44-yard pass to Thomas was the featured play in the drive. A series of punts and a just missed 51-yard field goal attempt by the Mustangs ensued. With the score 14-7 in favor of the Mustangs, the first half ended in dramatic fashion. The Lions started at their 36-yard line and had moved to the Mustangs 3-yard line, mostly on a 7-yard pass to Thomas and passes of 15 and 29-yards to Joe Doyle. Gunder lofted a pass toward Thomas in the end zone and Tim Smith batted it down for the Mustangs. Then Chad LaGore stuffed Doyle at the 1-yard line as the half came to an end.

The third quarter belonged to the Mustangs. Tim Smith took them 51-yards in 3 plays, on runs of 13, 17 and 21-yards, for another touchdown. The Lions went three and out and Seth Barnes returned their punt 36-yards to the Lions 22-yard line. A penalty put the ball on the 37. Updegrove ran to the 33, Smith ran to the 28 and then Smith galloped 28-yards for another touchdown. Another three and out series by the Lions gave the Mustangs the ball on the Lions 38-yard line. Six plays later Donnie Brady punched it over from the 2 for another touchdown. The Lions started at their 11-yard line after the kickoff and Updegrove forced Red Lion quarterback Taylor Gunder to make an intentional grounding pass from the end zone, resulting in a safety for the Mustangs and the Mustangs went up 35-7.

Early in the fourth quarter Drew Snyder added a 35-yard field goal for the Mustangs, the school record 16th of his career. Taylor Gunder completed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Dolan, against the Mustangs reserves, for the Lions, and Travis Scott scored a touchdown on a 6-yard run for the final Mustangs touchdown with 0.52 left in the game.

Jason Gigous led the defense with 11 tackles, Eric Updegrove registered 2 sacks (one of which resulted in the safety) and Donnie Brady and Chad LaGore each had a sack. Chris Wilson recovered an offensive fumble to keep the ball for the Mustangs. Josh Rummel had the interception and Tim Smith had the fumble recovery. LaGore and Wilson each had 9 tackles Jason Sneeringer and Updegrove each had 6 tackles, Seth Barnes, Corwyn Gordon, Duane Rowlette and Drew Snyder each had 5 tackles, Bryan Bosley and Cody Shue each had 4 tackles, Donnie Brady, Josh Rummel and Tim Smith each had 3 tackles, and a host of players had one or two tackles for the Mustangs. Cody Shue caused the fumble that Tim Smith recovered, Seth Barnes and Tim Smith each broke up 2 passes, and Jesse Smith and Matt Ferguson each broke up a pass for the Mustangs.

Seth Barnes returned 2 punts for 40-yards, with the longest going for 36-yards, and Aaron Repman returned 1 punt for 18-yards. Barnes also returned a kickoff for 19-yards, Repman returned 1 for 18-yards, and Matt Ferguson returned 1 for 7-yards. Drew Snyder kicked off 8 times for 390-yards, including 2 touchbacks. Snyder punted 3 times for 114-yards, for a 38-yard average, with the longest going for 46-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 316-yards rushing and 24-yards passing for a total of 340 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 3 of 8 passes for the 28-yards; 12-yards to Aaron Repman, 12-yards to Drew Snyder and 4-yards to Donnie Brady, and Dan Brenneman completed a pass to Pete Kudla for minus 4-yards. Tim Smith lead the rushing attack with his 146-yards and 3 touchdowns, followed by Eric Updegrove with 53-yards and a touchdown, Jason Gigous with 37-yards, Donnie Brady with 23-yards and a touchdown, Aaron Repman with 18-yards, Travis Scott with 17-yards and a touchdown, Pete Kudla with 10-yards, J. C. Laughlin with 7-yards, and Justin Barnes with 6-yards.

The Red Lion Lions gained 66-yards rushing and 219-yards passing for a total offense of 285-yards. Joe Doyle led the Lions rushing attack with 38-yards (and he ran in a 2-point conversion), followed by Taylor Gunder with 23-yards, Ethan Becker for 8-yards, and Brett Fishel for minus yardage. Gunder completed 14 passes for the 219-yards, including 9 for 133-yards and a touchdown to Trent Thomas, 1 for 29-yards to Joe Doyle, 1 for 27-yards and a touchdown to Taylor Dolan, 2 for 18-yards to Seden Craig, and 1 for 12-yards to Mike Nalls. Kevin Baughman, with 11 tackles, and Joe Ross, with 10 tackles, led the defense.

The 105 member strong South Western Mustangs Marching Band, 9-time Cavalcade of Bands Champion, a 2000 Tournament of Bands Champion and US Scholastic Band Champion provided the post game 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 Mustangs.” The closing number was a “lilting” Irish melody leading to the majestic strains of “We Go On.” The 75 member strong Lions Marching Band entertained at half-time with the theme “Black & White,” featuring four movements: music from the film “Sleepy Hollow,” “Nimrod,” “Back in Black,” and “World’s Finale.”

The Mustangs of South Western are 5-1-0 overall and 3-0-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play. They have outscored their opponents 213 to 45 for an average victory of 35.5 to 7.5.

Don Seidenstricker has a 159-63-1 (.715) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 300-181-8. The results of the 489 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .624 winning percentage and a .630 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and visit the Panthers of Central York. The Panthers are coming off of a 20-14 loss at the hands of the Eagles of Exeter Township. From here it looks like the Mustangs will continue to gallop along on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.