SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2007-6

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 28, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Rockets of Spring Grove at the Mustang Corral and galloped to an impressive 22-7 victory. Pete Kudla, Seth Barnes and John Bingham led the hard charging Mustangs.

After the Rockets went 3 and out and punted, the Mustangs went 43-yards in two plays to score. Kudla gained 6-yards, Bingham gained 36-yards before prematurely dropping the ball at the one yard line and alert tackle Corwyn Gordon scored the touchdown by picking up the loose ball and carrying it the final yard. Zac Kruger’s extra point kick gave the Mustangs a 7-0 lead at 9:36 in the first quarter.

Andrew Sells then recovered a Rockets fumble at their 30-yard line for the Mustangs. Coty Slothour immediately returned the favor by intercepting a Mustangs pass in the end zone for the Rockets. The Rockets went three and out and punted and the Mustangs drove 16-yards to the Rockets 30-yard line, where a 47-yard field goal attempt by Kruger was blocked by Purnell Richardson for the Rockets.

The Rockets again went three and out and punted and John Bingham returned the kick for a touchdown but it was called back due to a penalty. The Mustangs ended up punting to the Rockets 1-yard line and Derek Supel quickly recorded a safety, putting the Mustangs up 9-0 at 3:03 in the first quarter.

Chris Helwig returned the ensuing Rockets kick 14-yards to the Rockets 47-yard line. Ten plays later, after a drive featuring runs of 12, 1, 2 and 8-yards by Pete Kudla, Kudla scored on a 5-yard scamper and the lead was upped to 15-0 at 10:44 in the second quarter. The Rockets punted again from deep in their own territory shortly thereafter and the Mustangs needed only three plays, a lateral pass from David Sager to Marty Kefauver lost 2-yards, a run by J. R. Mummert picked up 2-yards and a 25-yard touchdown pass from Sager to Drew Sneeringer, to score. Kruger’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 22-0 at 7:17 in the second quarter.

The Rockets finally put together a 61-yard twelve play drive, featuring a 12-yard run by Joey Rudd, a 16-yard pitch play to Matt Duncan and a 7-yard run by Duncan, that ended with quarterback Ian Smith sneaking in from the 1-yard line. Cody Baker’s extra point kick made the score 22-7 in favor of the Mustangs with 2:18 left in the half. Another unsuccessful 47-yard field goal attempt by the Mustangs brought the half to a close.

The Rockets excited the crowd when Everett Kerrison recovered an onside kick at the Mustangs 39-yard line to start the second half. On a 4th and 13, the Rockets pulled off a fake punt and Caleb Burns sprinted to the 23-yard line. The Rockets then turned the ball over on downs. The rest of the game was a see-saw battle, as reflected by the fact that Duane Rowlette intercepted a Rockets pass for the Mustangs and Coty Slothour immediately picked one off for the Rockets for his second interception of the game.

John Bingham and Adam Day led the Mustangs with 8 tackles each, followed by Zach Hagerman with 7, Duane Rowlette and Andrew Sells with 6 each, Jordan Gall and Drew Sneeringer with 5 each, Chris Helwig, Karl Maynor, Blair Messinger and Derek Supel with 4 each, Bryan Bosley with 3, Seth Barnes, Corwyn Gordon, Chris McDonald and Zac Scott with 2 each, and Jake Myers and David Sager with 1 tackle each. Bingham and Barnes each were credited with 2 pass defenses, while Day was credited with 2 pass hurries for the Mustangs. Rowlette and Maynor were each credited with a pass defense, and McDonald, Supel and Sneeringer were each credited with a pass hurry. Supel recorded a safety, Rowlette intercepted a pass and Sells recovered a fumble for the Mustangs.

John Bingham returned 2 punts for 65-yards, with the longest going for 50-yards, Seth Barnes returned a punt for 17-yards, and Chris Helwig returned a punt for 14-yards. Helwig also returned a kickoff for 21-yards and Drew Sneeringer returned a kickoff for 9-yards for the Mustangs. Zak Kruger kicked off 4 times for 208-yards, including a touchback. Daryl Grubb punted 3 times for 117-yards, for a 39-yard average, with the longest going for 49-yards.

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 for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 194-yards rushing and 33-yards passing for 227-yards of offense. Pete Kudla led the rushing attack with 22 carries for 114-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), followed by Seth Barnes with 15 carries for 49-yards, John Bingham with 5 carries for 43-yards, J. R. Mummert with 4 carries for with 6-yards, and David Sager with 2 carries for 3-yards. Quarterback Sager completed 4 passes for 33-yards and a touchdown, 1 for a 25-yard touchdown to Drew Sneeringer, 2 for 10-yards to John Bingham, and 1 for minus 2-yards to Marty Kefauver, for the Mustangs. Seth Barnes has 398-yards rushing, 185-yards receiving, and 307-yards in kick returns, for a total of 890 all-purpose yards for the season for the Mustangs.

The Spring Grove Rockets gained 110-yards rushing and 4-yards passing for a total offense of 114-yards. Caleb Burns led the Rockets rushing attack with 4 carries for 50-yards, followed by Matt Duncan with 11 for 31, Joey Rudd with 8 for 28, Cory Baker with 2 for 4, Purnell Richardson with 1 for minus 1, and quarterback Ian Smith with 8 for minus 2-yards (including a 1-yard touchdown). Smith completed 2 passes, 1 to Baker for 4-yards and 1 to Duncan for no yards for the Rockets.

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 pregame 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 Rockets Marching Band (The Blue Crew) entertained at half time with a rousing performance.

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

Don Seidenstricker has a 168-67-1 (.715) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 309-185-8. The results of the 502 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .626 winning percentage and a .632 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and visit the Lions of Red Lion. The Lions are coming off of a 28-10 loss to the Panthers of Central York. From here it looks like the Mustangs are primed to gallop along on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.