SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2008-10

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, October 24, the Mustangs of South Western visited the den of the undefeated Bearcats of York High (William Penn) and were barely edged 32-27 after a valiant effort. The Bearcats opened the game with a five play, 76-yard touchdown drive, featuring passes of 20-yards to Malik Generett, 7-yards to Andre Callum, and a 36-yard touchdown strike to Generett. Ethan Fair’s extra point kick put the Bearcats up 7-0 only 1:25 into the game, but the Mustangs matched the Bearcats touchdown for touchdown the rest of the game.

After the Mustangs punted, the Bearcats marched 87-yards in three plays, ending with a 78-yard touchdown jaunt by Brandon Walker. Fair’s extra point kick upped the score to 14-0 at 6:35 in the first quarter.

The Mustangs answered right back with a 65-yard 12 play touchdown drive. It featured a 24-yard gain by Jeb Shipley on a fake punt and a 12-yard pass from David Sager to Drew Sneeringer, and ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by David Sager. Zak Kruger’s extra point kick made the score 14-7 with 1:06 left in the first quarter.

After exchanges on a punt and a turnover on downs by the Mustangs and a punt by the Bearcats, Barry Bowman recovered a Mustangs fumble and returned it 38-yards for a touchdown for the Bearcats. The 20-7 score was the way the first half ended.

After the Mustangs ended the opening drive of the second half with a punt, the Bearcats marched 55-yards in eight plays. Steffonte Doby scored on a 24-yard run and that upped the score to 26-7.

The Mustangs responded when Zac Scott blocked a Bearcats punt at the Bearcats 10-yard line. David Sager threw a 10-yard touchdown strike to Drew Sneeringer and Kruger’s extra point kick made the score 26-14 with 2:24 to go in the third quarter.

The Mustangs had a drive that included another fake punt but ended up turning the ball over on downs. The Bearcats then drove 70-yards in two plays, ending with Steffonte Doby’s 49-yard touchdown streak, and the score went to 32-14 with 11:14 to go in the game.

Chris Helwig returned the kickoff 67-yards to the Bearcats 30-yard line. David Sager then threw a 30-yard touchdown strike to Zac Scott and the score tightened to 32-20.

The Mustangs tenacious defense forced the Bearcats to punt and the Mustangs launched an 8 play 60-yard drive. The drive featured an 18-yard run by Chris Helwig, a 10-yard run by Kyle King, a 12-yard run by Jeb Shipley, and a 16-yard pass from David Sager to Drew Sneeringer to the Bearcats 1-yard line. David Sager then threw a 1-yard touchdown strike to Sneeringer. Kruger kicked the extra point and suddenly the score was 32-27 with 5:48 left in the game.

The never say die Mustangs got the ball on their 20-yard line, were penalized back to the 10-yard line, then drove to the 30-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 1:23 to go in the game. The Bearcats then took a knee to end the game.

Jake Myers led the Mustangs defense with 15 tackles, followed by Jake Shaffer with 11, Andrew Sells with 10, Brandon Nicastro and Drew Sneeringer with 8 tackles each, Zac Scott with 7, Levi Sager and Derek Supel with 4 tackles each, Jimmy Nicklas with 3, Mike Brant, Adam Day, and Kyle King with 2 tackles each, and Alex Berwager, Chris Helwig, Kyle Mahorney, and Ryan Sexton with 1 tackle each. Day, Mahorney and Shaffer were each credited with a sack for the Mustangs. Kyle King was credited with 2 pass defenses and Adam Day was credited with a pass hurry for the Mustangs.

Chris Helwig returned 4 kickoffs for 115-yards, with the longest going for 67-yards, and he returned a punt for 2-yards for the Mustangs. Levi Sager returned 1 punt for 5-yards for the Mustangs. Zak Kruger kicked off 5 times for 241-yards, including 2 touchbacks, and Jake Myers punted 5 times for 180-yards, for a 36-yard average, for the Mustangs.

Adam Day, Colby Fuhrman, Jordan Gall, Chris Helwig, 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 for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 125-yards rushing and 109-yards passing for a total of 234-yards of offense. Jeb Shipley led the Mustangs rushing attack with 8 carries for 43-yards, followed by Chris Helwig with 6 for 34, J. R. Mummert with 11 for 24, Levi Sager with 2 for 17, Zac Scott with 2 for 2-yards, and David Sager with 3 carries for minus 5-yards (including a 1-yard touchdown). Quarterback David Sager completed 13 of 29 passes for 109-yards and 3 touchdowns, 4 for 39-yards to Drew Sneeringer (including touchdowns of 10 and 1-yards), 1 for a 30-yard touchdown to Scott, 3 for 18-yards to Kyle Mahorney, 2 for 12-yards to Shipley, 1 for 12-yards to Jimmy Nicklas, and 1 for minus 2-yards to Helwig, for the Mustangs. Zak Kruger kicked 3 extra points and had 2 touchbacks on kickoffs for the Mustangs.

The Bearcats gained 248-yards rushing and 81-yards passing for a total offense of 329-yards. Steffonte Doby led the Bearcats rushing attack with 15 carries for 126-yards (including touchdowns of 24 and 49-yards), followed by Brandon Walker with 9 for 121-yards (including a 78-yard touchdown), Javaughn Murphy with 1 for 8-yards, Barry Bowman with 1 for 1-yard, Jordan Davis with 8 for minus 2-yards, and Andre Callum with 1 carry for minus 6-yards. Quarterback Davis completed 10 of 15 passes for 81-yards, 4 for 62-yards to Malik Generett (including a 36-yard touchdown), 2 for 13-yards to Callum, 1 for 13-yards to Walker, 1 for minus 1-yard to Barry Bowman, and 1 for minus 6-yards to Doby, for the Bearcats. Bowman returned a fumble 38-yards for a touchdown and Ethan Fair kicked 2 extra points for the Bearcats.

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 rousing half time show entitled “B-Classical” and featuring the energetic rhythms of Bernstein, passionate melodies of Borodini, and empowering harmony of Bizet. The 71 member William Penn Marching Band put on a stirring post game show titled “The Sounds of Simon,” featuring the tunes “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “You Can Call Me Al,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover,” “Late In The Evening,” and “The Sounds of Silence.” The 25 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Mustangs Mascot, and the Bearcats Cheer Leaders were very impressive in rousing their fandom.

The Mustangs of South Western are 3-6-0 overall and 2-4-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 172-77-1 (.691) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 313-195-8. The results of the 516 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .616 winning percentage and a .622 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and visit the Colonials of New Oxford. The Colonials are coming off of a 30-15 loss to the Eagles of Dover. From here it looks like the Mustangs are ready to end the season on a high and winning note. GO MUSTANGS GO.