SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2006-9

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, October 20, the Mustangs of South Western visited the previously undefeated Colonials of New Oxford and galloped and passed their way to a convincing 43-14 victory. After the Colonials went three and out, the Mustangs started off on the right foot with a seven-play a 55-yard opening drive, featuring runs of 8 and 17-yards by Jason Gigous, 6 and 3-yards by Eric Updegrove, and runs of 6, 10, 3-yards by Tim Smith, and ending with Smith’s 1-yard touchdown plunge. Snyder kicked the extra point and the Mustangs were up 7-0 at the 8:19 point in the first quarter.

The Colonials then went 3 and out and punted but the ball touched a Mustangs player and the Colonials recovered to maintain possession, only to go 3 and out again as Eric Updegrove registered a sack for the Mustangs. The Mustangs then started a 14 play 75-yard drive that featured passes of 15 and 11-yards from quarterback J. C. Laughlin to Donnie Brady, a 21-yard pass from Laughlin to Aaron Repman, and a 9-yard touchdown pass to Drew Snyder. Snyder’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 14-0 at 9:52 in the second quarter.

The Colonials then started a drive at their 35-yard line and mounted a 14-play drive, featuring a 17-yard pass from quarterback Alex Smith to Eric Harris, a 10-yard pass from Smith to Tim Mathna and a 9-yard pass from Smith to Kody Kibler and a 10-yard run by Adam Smith. Adam plunged in from the 1-yard line with 2:03 left in the half and Steve Norman’s extra point kick made the score 14-7 in favor of the Mustangs. The Smith twins, Adam and Alex, had brought the Colonials to life.

The Mustangs countered immediately with a 3-play drive 51-yard drive. After an incomplete pass Eric Updegrove rambled for 16-yards and Tim Smith took it the last 35-yards and the score was 20-7 in favor of the Mustangs with 1:29 left in the half. And things mushroomed against the Colonials, who started on their 21-yard line. Adam Smith ran to the 23 and then Alex Smith went back to pass and was heavily pursued by the Mustangs. In desperation he lofted a pass that defensive tackle Corwyn Gordon picked off in mid air and returned 15-yards for a touchdown. Snyder’s extra point kick upped the score to 27-7 with 37 seconds left in the half.

The Mustangs started off the second half at their 27-yard line and moved to the Colonials 38, where Todd Unger intercepted a pass and returned it 16-yards for the Colonials to stop that drive. The Colonials went 4 and out as a pass fell incomplete on a 4th down fake punt play. The Mustangs took over on their 43-yard line and 6 plays later, featuring a 26-yard pass from Laughlin to Tim Smith, they were on the Colonials 25-yard line. Drew Snyder, who has a school career record 17 field goals (including 50, 47 and 45-yarders) booted a 42-yard field goal that would have been good from a lot farther out to put the Mustangs up 30-7 at 4:45 of the 3rd quarter.

The Colonials then started on their 18-yard line. After an incomplete pass Chris Wilson recovered a fumble at the Colonials 17 and the Mustangs were in business again. Updegrove ran to the 15 and Laughlin lofted a pass to the irrepressible Drew Snyder for a 15-yard touchdown. Snyder’s extra point kick upped the score to 37-7 with 3:31 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Colonials turned the ball over on downs on their next possession and, with 11:40 left in the game, the Mustangs called time out and pulled the first team. After an exchange of possessions the Colonials mustered a touchdown on a 22-yard run by Ross Hall and the extra point kick by Victor Hernandez made the score 37-14 at 6:31 in the game.

Cody Shue and Dan Brenneman shared the Mustangs quarterback duties and Brenneman also intercepted a Colonials pass at the Mustangs 42-yard line. Zac Scott then ripped off a nifty 57-yard scamper to the Colonials 1-yard line and he followed that with a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 1:35 left in the game to make the final score 43-14.

Jason Gigous led the Mustangs with 10 tackles, followed by Chad LaGore and Jesse Smith with 8 each, Tim Smith with 7, Chris Wilson with 6, Jason Sneeringer and Drew Snyder with 5 each, Eric Updegrove with 4, Bryan Bosley, Corwyn Gordon, Daryl Grubb, Zach Hagerman, Chris McDonald and Kory Yelton with 3 each, and a host of players with one or two tackles. Gigous had 2 sacks and Donnie Brady, LaGore, Snyder and Updegrove each had 1. Aaron Repman had 2 big pass defenses and Duane Rowlette and Josh Rummel each had one. The fumble recovery by Chris Wilson and the interceptions by Brenneman and Gordon loomed large in the Mustangs vaunted defense.

Aaron Repman returned a punt for 7-yards and Zac Scott returned one for no yardage for the Mustangs. Repman also returned a kickoff for 17-yards and Chris Helwig returned 2 kickoffs for 31-yards, with the longest going for 16-yards. Drew Snyder kicked off 6 times for 338-yards, including 2 touchbacks, and Ryan Laughman kicked off once for 43-yards. Snyder punted once for 45-yards for the Mustangs.

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, Aaron Repman, Duane Rowlette, Tim Smith, Mike Stremmel and Kory Yelton patrolled the secondary.

The South Western Mustangs gained 268-yards rushing and 103-yards passing for a total of 371 yards of offense. J. C. Laughlin completed 6 of 11 passes for the 103-yards, including touchdowns of 9 and 15-yards to Drew Snyder, 2 passes for 32-yards to Donnie Brady, 1 for 26-yards to Tim Smith and 1 for 21-yards to Aaron Repman. Zac Scott lead the rushing attack with 85-yards and a touchdown, followed by Tim Smith with 63-yards and 2 touchdowns, Eric Updegrove with 46-yards, Jason Gigous with 29-yards, Ryan Laughman with 20-yards, Chris Helwig with 11-yards, Donnie Brady with 10-yards and Aaron Repman with 4-yards.

The New Oxford Colonials gained 122-yards rushing and 76-yards passing for a total offense of 198-yards. Quarterback Alex Smith completed 5 passes for 61-yards and backup Ross Hall completed 1 for 15-yards. Erik Harris caught 2 passes for 47-yards, Joe Ruby caught 1 for 15-yards, Tim Mathna caught 1 for 10-yards, Kody Kibbler caught 1 for 9-yards, and Adam Smith caught 1 for minus 5-yards. Adam Smith led the rushing attack with 37-yards and a touchdown (he now has 1,046-yards rushing for the season), followed by Ross Hall with 36-yards and a touchdown, Brian Lawrence with 15-yards, Doug Black with 11-yards, Justin Bream with 11-yards, Alex Smith with 11-yards (he now has 710-yards rushing for the season), and Brandon Miller with a yard.

Adam Smith returned a kickoff for 31-yards, Erik Harris returned 1 for 21-yards, Justin Bream returned 1 for 11-yards, and Tim Mathna returned 1 for 9-yards for the Colonials. Steve Norman kicked off 2 times for 91-yards, with the longest going for 50-yards, and Sean Patterson kicked off once for 40-yards for the Colonials. Kody Kibbler punted 3 times for 99-yards, with the longest going for 42-yards, for a 33-yard average, and Jake Groft punted once for 30-yards for the Colonials.

The 18-member Mustangs Cheer Leading squad was very impressive as they roused the many faithful Mustangs fans among the estimated 6,000 people in the crowd. The Colonials Cheer Leaders countered with a spirited crowd rousing performance.

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 88 member strong Colonials Marching Band entertained after the game with a show called “An Appalachian Suite,” including the selections: “Appalachian Morning,” “The Promise of Living” and “American Faces.”

The Mustangs of South Western are 7-1-0 overall and 5-0-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 161-63-1 (.719) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 302-181-8. The results of the 491 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .625 winning percentage and a .631 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and host the Bearcats of York (William Penn). The Bearcats are coming off of a 34-18 victory over the Lions of Red Lion. This game will go a long way in deciding the division championship. A win would guarantee the Mustangs the title. From here it looks like the Mustangs are ready to continue their winning ways. GO MUSTANGS GO.