SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2007-5

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 21, the Mustangs of South Western traveled to the den of the Wildcats of Dallastown and were edged 20-17 in a thriller that saw the Wildcats break a 17-17 tie with a 18-yard Trent Bear field goal with one second left on the clock. Junior running back Kole Kraut’s 142-yards and 2 touchdowns rushing made the difference in a close hard fought contest.

The Wildcats opened the game with a 24-yard drive, featuring a 19-yard pass from quarterback Kevin Frisby to Andre Le, but turned the ball over to the Mustangs on downs at their 40-yard line. The Mustangs drove to the Wildcats 45-yard line, featuring a 10-yard pass from quarterback David Sager to Seth Barnes, but Andre Le tipped a pass and Tyler Imhoff intercepted for the Wildcats and returned it 23-yards to the Mustangs 47-yard line. Frisby gained 5-yards to the 42 and Kole Kraut scored on a 42-yard touchdown jaunt. Trent Bear added the extra point and the Wildcats were up 7-0 at the 4:43 point in the first quarter.

Karl Maynor returned the kickoff 64-yards to the Wildcats 27-yard line for the Mustangs. Justin Zelger recovered a fumble for the Wildcats to end that threat. The Wildcats ended up punting to the Mustangs 25-yard line. Seth Barnes then raced 75-yards for a touchdown for the Mustangs as he broke into the secondary and left everyone in the dust. Zac Kruger’s extra point kick tied the game at 7 at 2:14 in the first quarter.

The Wildcats punted to the Mustangs on their next possession and the Mustangs drove from their 30-yard line to the Wildcats 16, featuring an 11-yard pass to Barnes and a 29-yard run by sophomore J. R. Mummert. Kruger then kicked a 33-yard field goal at 9:51 in the second quarter to give the Mustangs a 10-7 lead.

Each team then punted twice and then the Mustangs next possession resulted in Chris Hunt blocking a punt and Justin McGowan recovered it for the Wildcats at the Mustangs 17-yard line. Frisby ran to the 15 and, after 2 incomplete passes; Trent Bear kicked a 32-yard field goal to tie the score at 10 with 48 seconds left in the first half.

The Mustangs punted on their opening possession of the second half and the Wildcats launched an 11 play 77-yard drive, featuring runs of 13, 10, 14 yards by Frisby. Kraut scored on a 4-yard run and Bear added the extra point to put the Wildcats up 17-10 with 4:53 left in the third quarter.

The Mustangs then launched a 10 play 76-yard drive, featuring a 12-yard pass to Barnes, a 16-yard run by Barnes and runs of 20, 2, 3, 4, and 3-yards by Mummert, and ending with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Mummert. Kruger’s extra point kick tied the score at 17 with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.

The teams exchanged punts in the fourth quarter until the Wildcats started a drive at their own 5-yard line. A 15 play drive, featuring a 14-yard pass to Eric Shoff and runs of 2, 3, 15, 13, 6, 15, 6, 6, and 1-yards by Kraut, got the Wildcats to the 1-yard line of the Mustangs. Trent Bear then kicked his second field goal, an 18 yarder, to give the Wildcats the 20-17 win.

The never say die Mustangs put on a razzle-dazzle play on the kickoff that resulted in a lateral to Seth Barnes and his 20+ yard jaunt that ended the game as he was pushed out of bounds.

John Bingham led the Mustangs with 13 tackles, followed by Duane Rowlette with 12, Zac Scott with 10, Zach Hagerman with 9, Andrew Sells and Derek Supel with 8 each, Drew Sneeringer with 7, Seth Barnes with 6, Blair Messinger with 5, Bryan Bosley and Adam Day with 4 each, Corwyn Gordon with 3, Chris McDonald with 2, and Jordan Gall, Tyrell McCleary, Jake Myers, and Josh Rummel with 1 tackle each. Duane Rowlette, Karl Maynor, Zac Scott and Zach Hagerman each were credited with a pass defense and Andrew Sells had a pass hurry for the Mustangs.

Karl Maynor returned 2 kickoffs for 78-yards, with the longest going for 64-yards, Seth Barnes returned 2 kickoffs for 62-yards, with the longest going for 34-yards, and Nevan Sager returned a kickoff for 12-yards for the Mustangs. Daryl Grubb punted 3 times for 115-yards, with the longest going for 42-yards, and Zac Kruger kicked off 4 times for 194-yards, with the longest going for 58-yards, for the Mustangs.

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

The Mustangs gained 215-yards rushing and 41-yards passing for 256-yards of offense. Seth Barnes led the rushing attack with 6 carries for 111-yards (including a 75-yard touchdown), followed by J. R. Mummert with 17 for with 86 (including a 1-yard touchdown), John Bingham with 4 for 10, Pete Kudla with 3 for 9-yards, and David Sager with 2 for minus 1-yard. Quarterback Sager completed 5 passes for 42-yards, 4 for 33-yards to Barnes and 1 for 8-yards to Marty Kefauver. Zak Kruger kicked a 33-yard field goal for the Mustangs. Seth Barnes has 349-yards rushing, 185-yards receiving, and 290-yards in kick returns, for a total of 824 all-purpose yards for the season for the Mustangs.

The Wildcats gained 269-yards rushing and 40-yards passing for 309-yards of offense. Kole Kraut led the rushing attack with 20 carries for 142-yards (including touchdowns of 42 and 4-yards), followed by Kevin Frisby with 11 for 71, Matt Rae with 6 for 25, Stephen Rodriguez with 8 for 22, and Andre Le with 2 for 9-yards. Frisby completed 2 passes for 32-yards and Chris Hunt completed 1 for 8-yards for the Wildcats. Le caught 1 for 19-yards, Eric Shoff caught 1 for 13-yards, and Frisby caught 1 for 8-yards. Trent Bear kicked field goals of 32 and 18-yards for the Wildcats.

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 Dallastown Wildcats Marching Band put on an exhilarating pre-game show. The 21 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad, and the Wildcats Cheer Leaders roused the faithful during this exciting game.

The Mustangs of South Western are 1-3-0 overall and 0-1-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 167-67-1 (.714) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 308-185-8. The results of the 501 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 Rockets of Spring Grove. The Rockets are coming off of a 30-14 win over the Lions of Red Lion. From here it looks like the Mustangs will pick themselves up and resume their winning ways. GO MUSTANGS GO.