SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2008-5

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 19, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Eagles of Dover at the Mustang Corral and galloped to a 51-21 victory, with 2 runners exceeding 100-yards and a third hot on their trail for the Mustangs.

The Eagles punted from their 5-yard line after a 3 and out opening drive and the Mustangs began a 4-play 26-yard touchdown drive that ended with Zac Scott’s 5-yard touchdown run. Zac Kruger kicked the extra point and the Mustangs were up 7-0 at 9:07 in the first quarter. Another score quickly followed this as Brandon Nicastro recovered an Eagles fumble at the Eagles 41-yard line. David Sager immediately threw a beautiful 41-yard touchdown strike to Drew Sneeringer, and Kruger’s extra point kick upped the score to 14-0 at 6:12 in the first quarter.

The Eagles punted again and the Mustangs launched a 14 play 85-yard drive, featuring a 13-yard run by Jeb Shipley, 11 and 12-yard runs by J. R. Mummert, and a 7-yard run by Chris Helwig. Zac Kruger kicked a 24-yard field goal to up the score to 17-0 at 7:36 in the second quarter. Starting quarterback David Sager was injured on this drive and left the game, replaced by backup Ian Smith.

The Eagles punted again and the Mustangs marched 71-yards on 12 plays, featuring 19 and 9-yard runs by J. R. Mummert, 11, 7, 8 and 5-yard runs by Chris Helwig, and 7 and 5-yard runs by Zac Scott. Helwig scored a touchdown on a 5-yard run and Kruger’s extra point kick upped the score to 24-0 with 59.6 seconds left in the half.

The Eagles then launched a 3-play 80-yard touchdown drive in 27.5 seconds. Vaunted star Vaughn Hebron took off on a nifty 58 jaunt, quarterback Steven Ferry completed a 16-yard pass to Andy Wolfgang, and followed that up with a 6-yard touchdown strike to Hebron. Chris Hoover’s extra point kick made the score 24-7 with 32.1 seconds left in the half.

The Mustangs opened the second half at their 29-yard line and drove to the Eagles 35-yard line but Carlo Rivera intercepted a pass for the Eagles at their 35-yard line. The Eagles soon punted and the Mustangs drove 55-yards in 4 plays, featuring 14 and 5-yard runs by Mummert, an 11-yard run by Shipley, and a 25-yard touchdown run by Shipley. Kruger’s extra point kick upped the score to 31-7 at 6:28 in the third quarter.

The Eagles again punted and the Mustangs drove 85-yards in 14 plays. A 24-yard pass from Ian Smith to Chris Helwig and a 9-yard pass to Alex Berwager were the big plays in this drive, which ended with Mummert’s 5-yard touchdown run at 8:59 in the 4th quarter. Kruger’s extra point kick made the score 38-7.

The Eagles launched a play 60-yard drive, featuring a 14-yard pass from Steven Ferry to Zach Myers and a 14-yard pass to Carlos Rivera. Vaughn Hebron scored a touchdown on a 3-yard run and Chris Hoover’s extra point kick made the score 38-14 with 5:46 left in the game.

The benches were emptied after that. The Mustangs have 4 quarterbacks on the 75-player roster and they all got in the game. Bobby Porter and Tyler Frederick were able to move the ball and the scoring continued. Chris Helwig returned the Eagles kickoff 65-yards to the Eagles 23-yard line. Porter came in at quarterback. Tyrell McCleary made an 18-yard jaunt to the 5 and Mike Brant scored a touchdown on a 5-yard run. Kruger’s extra point kick upped the score to 45-14 with 4:49 left in the game.

Carlos Rivera returned the Mustangs kickoff 94-yards for a touchdown for the Eagles. Hoover’s extra point kick made the score 45-21.

The Mustangs then drove 77-yards in 6 plays with Tyler Frederick at quarterback. Jeff Hacker contributed runs of 2 and 11-yards and Kyle King scored a touchdown on a fancy 36-yard run, making the final score 51-21 in favor of the Mustangs.

Drew Sneeringer led the Mustangs defense with 11 tackles, followed by Alex Berwager with 8, Chris Helwig and Zac Scott with 7 each, Andrew Sells with 6, Jake Shaffer and Ben Shultz with 5 each, Derek Supel with 4, Mike Brant and Dan Laird with 3 each, Adam Day, Jimmy Nicklas, Levi Sager, and Jeb Shipley with 2 each, and Kyle Conaboy, Colby Fuhrman, Matt Funk, Jordan Gall, Chris Houser, Kyle King, Kyle Mahorney, David Messinger, Ian Smith, Ray Sites, and Leonard Sturgis with 1 tackle each. Brandon Nicastro recovered a fumble, Andrew Sells and Drew Sneeringer each recorded 2 sacks and Derek Supel recorded 1 sack for the Mustangs. King and Sneeringer each had a pass defense and Helwig had a pass hurry for the Mustangs.

Chris Helwig returned 3 kickoffs for 97-yards, with the longest going for 65-yards, and Kyle Mahorney returned a kickoff for 3-yards for the Mustangs. Zak Kruger kicked off 9 times for 480-yards, including 2 touchbacks. The Mustangs never punted in the game.

Adam Day, Colby Fuhrman, Jordan Gall, Chris Helwig, Dan Laird, Kyle Mahorney, Jake Myers, Brandon Nicastro, Zac Scott, Andrew Sells, Jake Shaffer, Drew Sneeringer, Derek Supel, and Wes Trostle manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions, with lots of help from Mason Brady, Mike Brant, Chris Houser, Stephen Munchel, Ben Shultz, and Ray Sites. Alex Berwager, Kyle King, Jimmy Nicklas and Levi Sager patrolled the secondary, with plenty of assistance from Tyrell McCleary and Ryan Sexton.

The Mustangs gained 462-yards rushing and 74-yards passing for a total of 536- yards of offense. J. R. Mummert led the Mustangs rushing attack with 20 carries for 136-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), followed by Jeb Shipley with 9 for 107-yards (including a 25-yard touchdown), Chris Helwig with 11 for 76-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), Kyle King with 2 for 48-yards (including a 36-yard touchdown), Mike Brant with 4 for 22-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), Zac Scott with 4 for 20-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), Tyrell McCleary with 1 for 18-yards, Ian Smith with 2 for 14-yards, Jeff Hacker with 2 for 12-yards, and David Sager with 2 for 9-yards. Quarterback David Sager completed 1 pass for a 41-yard touchdown to Drew Sneeringer before leaving the game with an injury in the second quarter, and backup Quarterback Ian Smith completed 2 passes for 33-yards, 1 for 9-yards to Chris Helwig and 1 for 9-yards to Alex Berwager for the Mustangs.

Carlos Rivera and Vaughn Hebron led the Eagles defense with 12 tackles each, followed by Dakota Gearhart with 10, Andy Wolfgang with 8, Roger Pletcher and Jeff Wesko with 7 each, Kiem Legrant with 5, Harry Caraballo and Josh Vaden with 4 each, Andrew Siers with 3, Donovan Frantz and Nick King with 2 each, and T. J. Adcock, Brody Black, Orlando Bryson, Kawika Fuller, Dustin Hale, Brandon Lutz, and Bryton Reaser with 1 tackle each. Rivera also had an interception for the Eagles.

Carlos Rivera returned 4 kickoffs for 150-yards, with the longest going for the 94-yard touchdown, and Bryton Reaser returned 3 kickoffs for 44-yards for the Eagles. Chris Hoover kicked off 4 times for 178-yards and Steven Ferry punted 5 times for 146-yards, for a 29.2-yard average for the Eagles.

The Eagles gained 150-yards rushing and 81-yards passing for a total offense of 231-yards. Vaughn Hebron led the Eagles rushing attack with 17 carries for 131-yards (including a 3-yard touchdown), followed by Zach Myers with 6 for 27-yards, Jeff Wesko with 1 for 2-yards, Rodney Brown with 2 for minus 2-yards, and Steven Ferry with 4 for minus 8-yards. Quarterback Ferry completed 8 passes for the 81-yards and a touchdown, 3 for 38-yards to Carlos Rivera, 2 for 20-yards to Andy Wolfgang, 1 for 14-yards to Zach Myers, 1 for a 6-yard touchdown to Vaughn Hebron, and 1 for 3-yards to Bryton Reaser, for the Eagles.

The 93 member 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 half time showfrom the sidelines, because of the rainy weather and field conditions, entitled “B-Classical” and featuring the energetic rhythms of Bernstein, passionate melodies of Borodini, and empowering harmony of Bizet. The 175 member Dover Eagles Marching Band put on a spirited half-time show in tribute to the four seasons, featuring “School’s Out for Summer,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Appalachian Spring.” The 23 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad, and the Eagles Cheer Leaders were very impressive in rousing their fandom.

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

Don Seidenstricker has a 171-73-1 (.701) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 312-191-8. The results of the 511 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .620 winning percentage and a .626 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs visit the den of the Wildcats of Dallastown. Undefeated Dallastown is coming off of a 28-20 win over the Colonials of New Oxford. From here it looks like the Mustangs have hit their stride and are set to continue their winning ways. GO MUSTANGS GO.