SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2007-9

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, October 19, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Colonials of New Oxford at the Mustang Corral and lost 18-14 in a thriller. Two botched snaps on punt attempts by the Mustangs gave the Colonials good field position and led to the first score by the Colonials. A fumble recovery mid way through the fourth quarter led to the Colonials game winning score, but the outcome wasn’t finally decided until the valiant Mustangs ended an 8 play 44-yard drive by turning the ball over on downs at the Colonials 25-yard line.

The Colonials drove 41-yards on the opening drive and punted. The Mustangs drove 30-yards to mid field and attempted to punt. A botched snap gave the Colonials the ball on the Mustangs 23-yard line. Brandon Markle scored on a 23-yard jaunt and Sean Patterson’s extra point kick put the Colonials up 7-0 at the 3:27 mark in the first quarter.

Seth Barnes returned the kickoff 33-yards for the Mustangs but a sack by Bobby Laughman forced the Mustangs to punt. The Colonials launched a 7 play 67-yard drive, featuring Tanner McNutt’s 29-yard run to start it off, that ended with a 25-yard field goal by Patterson, making the score 10-0 at 10:12 in the second quarter.

The Mustangs went three and out and punted and the Mustangs got the ball back when the Colonials turned the ball over on downs. The Mustangs punted again and got the ball right back when Barnes recovered a Colonials fumble at their 29-yard line. Barnes ripped off a 14-yard run to the 15, J. R. Mummert ripped off 8 more to the 7, Barnes lost a yard, and John Bingham scored on an 8-yard run. Zak Kruger’s extra point kick made it 10-7.

Erik Harris retuned the Mustangs kickoff 41-yards and the Colonials ended up missing on a 33-yard field goal attempt. That left the score 10-7 in favor of the Colonials at the half.

The Mustangs opened the second half with a 14 play 80-yard touchdown drive, featuring runs of 9, 4 and 8-yards by Barnes, runs of 7, 5, 8, 5, 8, and 4-yards by Mummert. On a field goal attempt, the wet snap was bobbled and holder David Sager alertly rolled left and threw a 10-yard touchdown strike to Drew Sneeringer. Kruger’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 14-10 at 5:29 in the third quarter.

The Colonials then turned the ball over on downs at the Mustangs 28-yard line and the Mustangs saw a pass for a first down nullified by a penalty. A botched snap on a punt attempt from the 24 gave the Colonials the ball at the Mustangs 18-yard line. The Colonials had a touchdown called back due to a penalty and then Duane Rowlette intercepted a pass at the goal line and returned it 59-yards to the Colonials 41-yard line for the Mustangs. The Mustangs ended up punting and the Colonials also ended up punting. A Mustangs fumble was recovered by the Colonials at the Mustangs 36-yard line. Ross Hall ran to the 24, Markle ran to the 21, Nick Rebert ran to the 11, and Hall sprinted into the end zone on an 11-yard jaunt. Brian Lawrence ran in for a 2-point conversion after the touchdown to give the Colonials an important 4-point lead and a final score of 18-14 with 5:32 left in the game.

The never say die Mustangs drove 44-yards in 8 plays, featuring passes of 14-yards to Barnes and 15-yards to Bingham from Sager, an 8-yard run by Bingham, a 4-yard run by Barnes, and a 3-yard run by Mummert. Two incomplete passes resulted in turning the ball over on Downs to the Colonials at their 25-yard line. It was only then that the game was decided and the Colonials were able to run out the clock.

Duane Rowlette led the Mustangs with 9 tackles, followed by Chris Helwig with 7, Jake Myers, Drew Sneeringer and Derek Supel with 6 each, Jordan Gall with 5, Seth Barnes, John Bingham, Blair Messinger, and Josh Rummel with 4 each, Andrew Sells with 3, Corwyn Gordon and Zach Hagerman with 2, and Mike Brant, Adam Day, Zak Kruger, Karl Maynor, Chris McDonald, Brandon Nicastro, and Zac Scott with 1 each. Helwig was credited with a sack, a pass defense and a pass hurry, Rowlette and Rummel each were credited with a pass defense, Seth Barnes recovered a fumble and Duane Rowlette intercepted the pass on the goal line that he returned for 59-yards for the Mustangs.

Seth Barnes returned 1 punt for minus 3-yards and 1 kickoff for 33-yards, and Nevan Sager returned a kickoff for 9-yards for the Mustangs. Zac Kruger kicked off 3 times for 140-yards, including 1 touchback. Daryl Grubb punted 4 times for 135-yards for a 33.75-yard average, with the longest going for 46-yards, for the Mustangs.

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

The Mustangs gained 148-yards rushing and 45-yards passing for 193-yards of offense. Sophomore J. R. Mummert led the Mustangs rushing attack with 20 carries for 81-yards, followed by Seth Barnes with 13 carries for 56-yards, John Bingham with carries 7 for 36-yards, David Sager with 4 carries for 2-yards, and the team lost 27-yards on 2 bad snaps. Quarterback Sager completed 4 passes for 45-yards and a touchdown, 2 for 20-yards to Barnes, 1 for 15-yards to Bingham, and 1 for a 10-yard touchdown to Drew Sneeringer, for the Mustangs. Seth Barnes has 499-yards rushing, 210-yards receiving, and 496-yards in kick returns, for a total of 1,205 all-purpose yards for the season for the Mustangs. Barnes leads the Mustangs in rushing yards, followed by Pete Kudla with 385-yards and Mummert with 351-yards. Sager has completed 44 passes for 615-yards for the season and Barnes leads the receivers with 13 catches for 210-yards, followed by Marty Kefauver with 12 for 198-yards and John Bingham with 9 for 106-yards.

The New Oxford Colonials gained 273-yards rushing and 29-yards passing for a total offense of 302-yards. Quarterback Ross Hall led the Colonials rushing attack with 16 carries for 98-yards (including the 11-yard touchdown), followed Tanner McNutt with 6 for 61-yards, Brandon Markle with 10 for 46-yards (including the 23-yard touchdown), Erik Harris with 5 for 44-yards, Nick Rebert with 4 for 19-yards, Jake Groft with 1 for 3-yards, and Ryan Luckenbaugh with 1 carry for 2-yards. Hall completed 2 passes for 29-yards, 1 for 19-yards to Luckenbaugh and 1 for 10-yards to Rebert, for the Colonials. Sean Patterson kicked off 4 times for 211-yards, including 2 touchbacks, kicked an extra point and kicked a 25-yard field goal for the Colonials. Erik Harris returned a punt for 8-yards and a kickoff for 41-yards for the Colonials. Harris also punted once for 39-yards and Jake Groft punted once for 32-yards for the Colonials.

On Band Night, the 100 member strong South Western Mustangs Marching Band was joined on the field by the 115 member Emory H. Markle Colt Marching Band for a stirring pre-game show entitled “Salute to Freedom.” The show featured “Taps,” “Amazing Grace,” and “America.” Unfortunately, the torrential downpour later prevented the Mustangs Marching Band and the Colonials Marching Band from performing their award winning post game and half time shows. But it didn’t stop the 21 member Mustangs Cheer Leading Squad, or the Colonials Cheer Leaders, from stirring up the crowd as they performed admirably in the rain.

The Mustangs of South Western are 2-6-0 overall and 1-3-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 168-70-1 (.706) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 309-188-8. The results of the 505 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .622 winning percentage and a .628 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and travel to the den of the Bearcats of York (William Penn). The Bearcats (7-1 overall, 4-0 league) are coming off of a 39-21 victory over the Lions of Red Lion. From here it looks like the Mustangs will step up to the plate and take another shot at resuming their winning ways. GO MUSTANGS GO.