SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2007-2

By Bill Engelhardt
________

Last Friday evening, August 31, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Warriors of Gettysburg, ranked number 10 in the State by the Harrisburg Patriot News, and lost 31-13 after hanging right in there with them through most of the first half. The win was the 499th in the history of the Warriors football program. This one boiled down to the Evan Lewis show. Lewis, a senior and 3-year starter at quarterback, racked up runs of 13, 5, 25 and 5-yards before scoring on a 32-yard run with 1:03 left in the half, and his extra point kick gave the Warriors a 10-0 lead. His 21-yard field goal in the first quarter had been the only score up to that point.

The Mustangs and the Warriors each went three and out on their first possessions in what began as a defensive struggle. The Mustangs then were pinned back at their 3-yard line and punted. The Warriors took over on the Mustangs 26-yard line and got to the Mustangs 4-yard line before Lewis kicked the field goal to open the scoring.

The Mustangs drove 64-yards, featuring a 42-yard jaunt by Seth Barnes, to the Warriors 14-yard line, only to come away with no points as a 31-yard field goal attempt was missed.

A succession of punts by both sides ensued. Chris McDonald recovered a fumbled punt by the Warriors’ Zach Michaels on the Warriors 27-yard line but the Mustangs were not able to capitalize and punted again. Finally the stalemate was broken as the Warriors ripped off a 91-yard drive, featuring the runs by Lewis, and scored to go into half time up 10-0.

The Mustangs had held the vaunted Lewis to 5 completions on 10 passes for 40-yards in the first half. The second half belonged to the Warriors as they figured out a way to hold off the blitzing Mustangs just long enough to let Evan Lewis crank up his passing game, as he completed 6 of 7 passes for 101-yards.

The Warriors opened the second half with a 4-play 60-yard drive, capped by a 19-yard touchdown run by Justin Jones and the extra point by Lewis upped the score to 17-0. After an exchange of punts, the Mustangs were on their own 32-yard line when Zach Michael intercepted a David Sager pass and returned it 40-yards for a Warriors touchdown. The Lewis extra point kick made the score 24-0 near the end of the third quarter.

The Warriors ran off a 6-play 75-yard drive ending in a 5-yard touchdown pass from Lewis to D.J. Cool and the extra point by Lewis upped the score to 31-0 at the 7:20 mark in the fourth quarter.

A Warriors punt was returned for 33-yards by Seth Barnes, putting the Mustangs in business at the Warriors 37-yard line. A 4-play drive ended with Ryan Laughman scoring on a 16-yard jaunt. Zac Kruger’s extra point kick made the score 31-7. The never say die Mustangs closed out the scoring as David Sager completed a 43-yard touchdown strike to Marty Kefauver as time ran out.

Seth Barnes returned 2 kickoffs for 59-yards, with the longest going for 40-yards, and 1 punt for 33-yards. Karl Maynor returned a kickoff for 16-yards and Chris Helwig returned a kickoff for 10-yards for the Mustangs. Zak Kruger kicked off 2 times for 104-yards, with the longest going for 58-yards. Daryl Grubb punted 6 times for 172-yards, for a 28.7-yard average, with the longest going for 47-yards, for the Mustangs.

John Bingham, who had 14 tackles and 2 pass defenses for the night, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Duane Rowlette with 10 tackles and 2 pass defenses, Zach Hagerman with 8 tackles, Josh Rummel and Drew Sneeeringer with 7 tackles each, Corwyn Gordon with 6 tackles, Seth Barnes, Bryan Bosley, Karl Maynor, and J.R. Mummert with 5 tackles each, Blair Messinger with 4 tackles, Jordan Gall and Andrew Sells with 3 tackles each, Daryl Grubb, Chris Helwig and Chris McDonald with 2 tackles each, and Cody Mundorf, Jake Myers and Wes Trostle with 1 tackle each. Bingham also had 2 pass defenses, Rummel had a sack, and McDonald had a fumble recovery for the Mustangs.

John Bingham, Bryan Bosley, Jordan Gall, Corwyn Gordon, Daryl Grubb, Zach Hagerman, Chris Helwig, Chris McDonald, Blair Messinger, Josh Rummel, Andrew Sells, Drew Sneeringer, and Derek Supel manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions. Seth Barnes, Karl Maynor, Cody Mundorf and Duane Rowlette patrolled the secondary.

The Mustangs gained 166-yards rushing and 96-yards passing for a total of 262-yards of offense. Quarterback David Sager completed 7 passes for 96-yards, including 2 for 48-yards to Marty Kefauver (who scored the touchdown on a 43-yard reception), 2 for 29-yards to John Bingham, 2 for 9-yards to Karl Maynor, and 1 for 10-yards to Seth Barnes. Barnes led the Mustangs rushing attack with 8 carries for 74-yards, followed by Pete Kudla with 14 for 46-yards, Ryan Laughman with 2 for 21-yards (who scored the touchdown on a 16-yard run), Maynor with 2 for 14-yards, Chris Helwig with 2 for 11-yards and Sager with 2 for 4-yards. Bingham had 3 carries for minus 4-yards.

The Gettysburg Warriors rang up 213-yards rushing and 145-yards passing for a total of 358-yards gained. Evan Lewis completed 11 passes for 141-yards and a touchdown and Randy Vaughn completed 2 passes for 4-yards. Zach Michael caught 4 passes for 61-yards, D.J. Cool caught 2 for 24-yards (including the 5-yard touchdown), Sean Jones caught 2 for 24-yards, Sean Manahan caught 2 for 22-yards, Cody Trail caught 1 for 8-yards, Logan Riser caught 1 for 3-yards and Sean Shelleman caught 1 for 1-yard for the Warriors. Justin Jones led the Warriors rushing attack with 11 carries for 113-yards (including the 19-yard touchdown), followed by Lewis with 6 for 64-yards, Trail with 4 for 13-yards, Zach Sharrah with 4 for 11-yards, Shelleman with 1 for 9-yards, A.J. Acevedo with 2 for 7-yards, Trevon Johnson with 2 for 2-yards and Vaughn with 1 for minus 6-yards.

Gettysburg hopes to be a contender in the Capital Division of the Mid Penn Conference. The Mustangs are still hoping to do the same in Division I of the YAIAA this year.

The 9-time Cavalcade of Bands Champions, Tournament of Bands Group IV Champion and US Scholastic Band Champion South Western Mustangs Marching Band put on a stirring half-time show, entitled “City Symphonique: The Sights and Sounds of New York City.” The show featured opening themes depicting the “hustle and bustle” of the city, followed by “New York, New York,” “Wonderful Town,” “On Broadway,” and Lullaby on Broadway.” The Gettysburg Warriors Marching Band’s rousing pre-game show featured “Robin Hood – Prince of Peace,” “I Go to Rio,” “Shenandoah,” and “The Battle Hymn of The Republic.” The Mustangs and Warriors Cheer Leading squads were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

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

Don Seidenstricker has a 166-65-1 (.719) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 307-183-8. The results of the 498 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .626 winning percentage and a .633 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs visit the Warriors of Susquehannock. Susquehannock opened the season with a 12-7 loss to the Rockets of Spring Grove. The Mustangs played good offense and great defense and hung tough in much of the first half against a top rated team in their season opener. They are looking to get back into their winning tradition. GO MUSTANGS GO.