SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2007-11

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, November 2, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Squires of Delone Catholic at the Mustang Corral and recorded a convincing 17-10 victory over the playoff bound Squires to close out their regular season. Interceptions by Seth Barnes and Duane Rowlette loomed big, Barnes interception near the goal line as time ran out ended the Squires do or die attempt to tie the score.

The teams exchange possessions with no harm done to either throughout most of the first quarter. Brayden Daigle returned a Mustangs punt 23-yards to set the Squires up at the Mustangs 39-yard line. Joshua McNutt gained 18-yards on 2 runs, Kale gained 9-yards on a run and Dustin Reed gained 7-yards to put the Squires on the Mustangs 3-yard line as the first quarter ended. Kale lost 2-yards and then ran for a 5-yard touchdown and Miles Moore kicked the extra point to put the Squires up 7-0 at 11:12 in the second quarter. And that was the score at the end of the half.

Barnes returned the kickoff 34-yards to the 45 to start the second half for the Mustangs. Chris Helwig gained 10-yards, Barnes gained 7-yards, a penalty gained 15-yards, and Barnes scored on a nifty 22-yard run. Zac Kruger’s extra point kick tied the score at 7 at 10:12 in the second quarter.

The Squires next drive was interrupted when Rowlette intercepted a pass for the Mustangs at their 10-yard line. The Mustangs drove to the 25 and a penalty pushed them back. Eventually they punted and the Squires took over on the Mustangs 48-yard line. A 5 play drive, featuring a 28-yard pass from Noah Landi to Daigle, led to a 32-yard field goal by Miles Moore, putting the Squires up 10-7 at 1:32 in the third quarter.

Barnes returned the kickoff 31-yards to the 41-yard line for the Mustangs. A 10 play drive, featuring runs of 8, 7, and 7-yards by Barnes, 3 and 9-yards by Bingham, 3, 5 and 1-yards by Helwig, and 6-yards by David Sager, led to a 35-yard field goal by Kruger. That tied the score at 10 with 8:52 to go in the game. Andrew Sells recovered a Squires fumble on the kickoff and the Mustangs were set up on the Squires 37-yard line. Barnes gained 2-yards and a pass fell incomplete. Then Sager threw a beautiful 19-yard pass to Bingham. Helwig and Bingham picked up another 4-yards and Sager connected with Drew Sneeringer for a 16-yard touchdown pass. Kruger’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 17-10 with 6:22 to go in the game.

The Squires made it interesting as a poor punt gave them the ball at the Mustangs 33-yard line. One pass fell incomplete and Barnes’ interception for the Mustangs near the goal line as the clock ran out ended the game.

Duane Rowlette led the Mustangs with 10 tackles, followed by Josh Rummel with 8, Seth Barnes and John Bingham with 7 each, Zach Hagerman, Blair Messinger and Derek Supel with 6 each, Corwyn Gordon and Drew Sneeringer with 5 each, Chris Helwig, Travis Scott, Jake Myers, Andrew Sells, and Adam Day with 4 each, Chris McDonald with 3, Brandon Nicastro with 2, and Karl Maynor and Zac Scott with 1 tackle each. Hagerman, Rummel and Nicastro were each credited with a sack. Myers was credited with a pass hurry, Rowlette and Sneeringer were each credited with 2 pass defenses, Travis Scott had 1 pass defense, Barnes and Rowlette each intercepted a pass, and Andrew Sells recovered a fumble, for the Mustangs.

Seth Barnes returned 3 kickoffs for 79-yards, and John Bingham returned 1 punt for minus 4-yards for the Mustangs. Jake Myers punted 5 times for 136-yards, for a 27.2-yard average, with the longest going for 40-yards. Zak Kruger kicked off 4 times for 210-yards, including 1 touchback, 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, and Derek Supel 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 South Western Mustangs gained 156-yards rushing and 65-yards passing for 221-yards of offense. Seth Barnes led the Mustangs rushing attack with 88-yards (including a 22-yard touchdown), followed by Karl Maynor with 30-yards, Chris Helwig with 26-yards, John Bingham with 18-yards, Zac Scott with 17-yards, and Pete Kudla with 2-yards. The team lost 25-yards on a bad snap. Quarterback David Sager completed 6 passes for 65-yards and a touchdown, 2 for 37-yards to Drew Sneeringer (including a 16-yard touchdown), 1 for 18-yards to Bingham, 2 for 10-yards to Marty Kefauver, and 1 for no yards to Maynor, for the Mustangs. Zac Kruger kicked 2 extra points and a 35-yard field goal for the Mustangs.

The Delone Catholic Squires gained 200-yards rushing and 68-yards passing for a total of 268- yards of offense for the game. Michael Kale led the Squires rushing attack with 128-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), followed by Dustin Reed with 61-yards, Joshua McNutt with 28-yards, Noah Landi with minus 2-yards, Christopher Burton with minus 7-yards, and Brayden Daigle with minus 8-yards. Quarterback Landi completed 2 passes for 68-yards, 1 for 40-yards to Charlie Hertz and 1 for 28-yards to Daigle, and threw 2 interceptions, for the Squires. Miles Moore kicked an extra point and a 32-yard field goal for the Squires.

Brayden Daigle returned a punt for 23-yards and Joshua McNutt returned one for no yards. McNutt returned a kickoff for 25-yards and Dustin Reed returned 2 kickoffs for 33-yards. Michael Kale punted 2 times for 71-yards, for a 35.5-yard average, with the longest going for 45-yards, and Daigle punted 1 time for 43-yards. Miles Moore kicked off 3 times for 155-yards, with the longest goimg for 55-yards, for the Squires.

The 100 member strong 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 pre-game 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 Squires Marching Band entertained at half time with a rousing performance. The 21-member Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Mustang Mascot were very impressive as they roused the many faithful Mustangs fans among the spirited crowd. They are due a vote of thanks for a great job all season long. The Squires Cheer Leaders countered with a crowd rousing performance for their faithful fans.

The Mustangs of South Western ended their season at 3-7-0 overall and 1-5-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 169-71-1 (.704) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 310-189-8. The results of the 507 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .621 winning percentage and a .627 non-losing percentage.

I certainly cannot end the season without saying a very special thank you to Richard Lupro for faithfully providing the official Offensive, Special Teams and Scoring statistics for the Mustangs to me, and for inputting them, and the Defensive statistics, at the Max Preps web site each week. And a very special thank you also goes to longtime Mustangs line coach Chuck Seidenstricker for providing vital Defensive statistics to me, and to Dick Lupro, for input to the web site, after reviewing game films on very short notice.

The 2007 edition of the Mustangs of South Western gave their fans lots of excitement and thrills. Seth Barnes had 587-yards rushing on 91 carries, 210-yards receiving on 13 receptions, and 575-yards in kick returns, for a total of 1,372 all-purpose yards for the season, and led the team with 6 touchdowns for the Mustangs. The other rushing leaders were Pete Kudla with 74 carries for 387-yards, sophomore J. R. Mummert with 80 carries for 373-yards, and John Bingham with 47 carries for 154-yards.

David Sager completed 70 passes for 883-yards and 10 touchdowns. The reception leaders were Marty Kefauver with 16 catches for 213-yards, followed by Barnes with his 210-yards on 13 receptions, John Bingham with 188-yards on 14 receptions and Drew Sneeringer with 137-yards on 10 receptions.

John Bingham led the defense with 90 tackles, followed by Duane Rowlette with 81 and Drew Sneeringer with 69. Chris Helwig, Brandon Nicastro and Josh Rummel led the team in sacks with 3 each. Rowlette with 10 and Barnes with 7 led the team in pass defenses and Rowlette led the team with 6 interceptions, which he returned for 136-yards.

The 2007 Mustangs represented their school and league honorably, played hard, never gave up, and were within striking distance of winning several games that just didn’t go their way in the end. They have a great nucleus of returning players from the junior varsity and solid players coming up within the ranks. I can’t wait for next season to begin. Until then, GO MUSTANGS GO.