SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2008-6

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 26, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Wildcats of Dallastown and were shut out 27-0. The Mustangs started off by holding the Wildcats to a three and out opening series and then driving 49-yards in seven plays to the Wildcats 14-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. The drive featured a 22-yard pass from Ian Smith to Drew Sneeringer and 8 and 13-yard runs by J. R. Mummert.

The Mustangs again held the Wildcats to a three and out series and started a drive on the Wildcats 43-yard line. Six plays later the Mustangs again turned the ball over on downs at the Wildcats 25-yard line.

The Wildcats then drove 75-yards in five plays, featuring an 11-yard pass from Chris Hunt to Tyler Imhoff, and a 45-yard gallop by Hunt to the Mustangs 1-yard line. Kole Kraut then plunged in for a touchdown and Trent Bear’s extra point kick put the Wildcats up 7-0 with 50 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Mustangs were then held to a three and out but got the ball right back when Alex Berwager intercepted a Wildcats pass near midfield. Five plays later the Mustangs punted and the Wildcats launched a five-play 80-yard touchdown drive, featuring an 81-yard pass from Hunt to Kraut to the Mustangs 7-yard line. Kraut scored his second touchdown on a 4-yard run and Bear’s extra point kick upped the score to 14-0 with 6:40 left in the second quarter.

The Mustangs opened the second half with a three and out series. The Wildcats then launched a five-play 50-yard touchdown drive, featuring a 24-yard touchdown pass from Hunt to Eric Shoff, and the score was 20-0 with 8:01 left in the third quarter.

After another three and out series for the Mustangs, the Wildcats drove 71-yards in ten plays for the last score of the game. The Mustangs Derek Supel sacked Chris Hunt but that only temporarily slowed the drive. A 27-yard pass from Hunt to Zachary Green overcame the sack. Alex Orwig scored on a 1-yard plunge and Bear’s extra point kick made the final score 27-0 in favor of the Wildcats with 11:50 left in the game.

An interception by Jake Shaffer for the Mustangs ended a Wildcats drive and 2 interceptions by Kole Kraut for the Wildcats, one in the end zone, ended 2 drives by the Mustangs.

Drew Sneeringer led the Mustangs defense with 12 tackles, followed by Alex Berwager with 8, Brandon Nicastro with 7, Andrew Sells with 6, Jake Myers, Jimmy Nicklas, Zac Scott and Derek Supel with 5 each, Adam Day and Jake Shaffer with 4 each, Levi Sager with 3, Chris Helwig, Dan Laird and Kyle Mahorney with 2 each, and Colby Fuhrman and Ryan Sexton with 1 tackle each. Berwager and Shaffer each had an interception and Mahorney and Supel each recorded a sack for the Mustangs.

Chris Helwig returned 3 kickoffs for 49-yards, with the longest going for 21-yards, and Jeb Shipley returned a kickoff for 16-yards for the Mustangs. Zak Kruger kicked off 1 time for 52-yards and Jake Myers punted 8 times for 223-yards, for a 27.9-yard average, for the Mustangs.

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. Alex Berwager, Kyle King, Jimmy Nicklas and Levi Sager patrolled the secondary.

The Mustangs gained 131-yards rushing and 67-yards passing for a total of 198- yards of offense. J. R. Mummert led the Mustangs rushing attack with 16 carries for 63-yards, followed by Zac Scott with 5 for 37, Jeb Shipley with 6 for 32, Chris Helwig with 7 for 14, Mike Brant with 1 for 4, and Ian Smith with 2 for minus 19-yards. Quarterback smith completed 4 passes for 67-yards, 3 for 45-yards to Kyle Mahorney and 1 for 22-yards to Drew Sneeringer, for the Mustangs.

The Wildcats gained 168-yards rushing and 150-yards passing for a total offense of 318-yards. Chris Hunt led the Wildcats rushing attack with 11 carries for 90-yards, followed by Kole Kraut with 17 for 42 (including the touchdowns of 1 and 4-yards), Tyler Imhoff with 4 for 17, Anthony DeFabio with 1 for 8, Alex Orwig with 2 for 7 (including the 1-yard touchdown), Ben Kline with 1 for 2, and Josh Luckenbaugh with 1 for 2-yards. Quarterback Hunt completed 6 passes for 150-yards and a touchdown, 2 for 83-yards to Kraut, 2 for 32-yards to Zach Green, 1 for 24-yards and the touchdown to Eric Shoff, and 1 for 11-yards to Imhoff, for the Wildcats. Kraut also intercepted 2 passes for the Wildcats. Trent Bear kicked 3 extra points for the Wildcats.

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 show from 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 combined 275 member Dallastown Wildcats Marching Band and the Junior High Band put on a spirited pre-game show paying homage to cartoons, with the Batman TV and movie Theme, Spiderman Theme and Superman Theme. The 170 member Wildcats Marching Band put on a post-game show entitled “The Music of Chicago,” featuring “Make Me Smile,” “Beginnings,” “Color My World,” “Feeling Stronger Every Day,” “I’m a Man” and “Free.” The 23 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad, and the Wildcats Cheer Leaders were very impressive in rousing their fandom.

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 171-74-1 (.698) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 312-192-8. The results of the 512 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .619 winning percentage and a .625 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and host Rockets of Spring Grove. The Rockets are coming off of a 48-13 loss to the Lions of Red Lion. From here it looks like the Mustangs are ready to gallop back on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.