SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2008-9

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, October 17, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Panthers of Central York at the Mustang Corral and were defeated 38-16. The Mustangs hung tough in the beginning and got on the scoreboard first with a 41-yard field goal by Zak Kruger, set up by an interception by Jake Myers, who returned it 33-yards to the Mustangs 32-yard line. The Mustangs drove to the Panthers 24-yard line in 5 plays, featuring a 26-yard pass from David Sager to Jimmy Nicklas, and the field goal put them up 3-0 with 5:22 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers then launched a nine play 64-yard drive, featuring a 13-yard pass from Brandon Workinger to Parrish Fells and runs of 8, 8, 7, and 13-yards by workhorse D. J. Harrison. Harrison scored on a 4-yard run and Alex Kelly’s extra point kick put the Panthers on top 7-3 with 1:24 left in the first quarter.

The Mustangs countered with a ten play 73-yard drive, featuring a 14-yard pass from David Sager to Jimmy Nicklas, and a 34-yard pass to Chris Helwig. Helwig scored on a nifty 11-yard run and the score went to 9-7 in favor of the Mustangs with 9:41 left in the second quarter.

L’Mar Calhoun returned the Mustangs kickoff for 79-yards, setting the Panthers up at the Mustangs 19-yard line. 4 plays later Workinger threw a 10-yard touchdown strike to Kyle Baublitz and Kelly’s extra point put the Panthers on top 14-9 with 7:07 left in the half.

After exchanges of punts and a missed field goal attempt by the Panthers, Kyle Baublitz blocked a Mustangs punt and the Panthers were in business at the Mustangs 6-yard line. T. J. Shaffer scored on a 6-yard run and Kelly’s extra point kick put the Panthers up 21-9 with 1:13 left in the half.

Chris Helwig returned the Panthers second half kickoff 63-yards to the Panthers 33-yard line. But the Mustangs turned the ball over on downs at the 29. The Panthers drove 71-yards in seven plays, featuring a 25-yard pass from Workinger to T. J. Shaffer, and Harrison scored on a 9-yard run. Kelly’s extra point kick upped the score to 28-9 at the 6:16 mark in the third quarter.

The Mustangs punted again and Calhoun returned it 39-yards to the Mustangs 26-yard line. Three plays later Workinger threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Blaine Liggins and Kelly’s extra point kick upped the score to 35-9 with 3:40 left in the third quarter.

L’Mar Calhoun intercepted a Mustangs pass and returned it 34-yards to the Mustangs 34-yard line. Five plays later Alex Kelly kicked a 31-yard field goal at the 10:59 mark in the forth quarter and the score went to 38-9 in favor of the Panthers.

The never say die Mustangs launched an eleven play 56-yard drive, featuring a 12-yard run by Jeb Shipley and a 6-yard pass from David Sager to Chris Helwig. David Sager threw a 1-yard touchdown strike to Kyle Mahorney and Kruger’s extra point kick with 5:07 left in the game made the final score 38-16 in favor of the Panthers.

The Panthers drove from their own 34-yard line to the Mustangs 30-yard line and then took a knee twice to run out the clock.

Drew Sneeringer led the Mustangs defense with 13 tackles, followed by Alex Berwager, Jake Myers and Andrew Sells with 7 tackles each, Brandon Nicastro with 6, Levi Sager and Zac Scott with 5 tackles each, Chris Helwig and Derek Supel with 4 tackles each, Adam Day, Jimmy Nicklas and Jake Shaffer with 3 tackles each, Jordan Gall and Ben Shultz with 2 tackles each, and Mike Brant, Dan Laird Brandon Myers, J. R. Mummert, and Ryan Sexton with 1 tackle each. Zac Scott was credited with a pass defense and Jake Myers was credited with a pass hurry for the Mustangs.

Chris Helwig returned 4 kickoffs for 98-yards, with the longest going for 63-yards, Levi Sager returned 1 kickoff for 15-yards, and Drew Sneeringer returned 1 kickoff for 14-yards for the Mustangs. Zak Kruger kicked off 4 times for 213-yards, with the longest going for 56-yards, and Jake Myers punted 3 times for 96-yards, for a 36-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, with assistance from Curvin Boehler, Mike Brant, Chris Houser, Brandon Myers, Ben Shultz, and Ray Sites. Alex Berwager, Jimmy Nicklas and Levi Sager patrolled the secondary, with assistance from Larry Bowen, James Finnegan and Kyle King, for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 113-yards rushing and 88-yards passing for a total of 201- yards of offense. Jeb Shipley led the Mustangs rushing attack with 6 carries for 30-yards, followed by Zac Scott with 6 for 28, J. R. Mummert with 7 for 26, Chris Helwig with 7 for 21, David Sager with 3 for 5, and Levi Sager with 1 for 3-yards. Quarterback David Sager, returning from an injury after a month, completed 7 of 21 passes for 88-yards and a touchdown, 3 for 40-yards to Jimmy Nicklas, 2 for 40-yards to Helwig, 1 for 7-yards to Levi Sager, and 1 for a 1-yard touchdown to Kyle Mahorney, for the Mustangs.

The Panthers gained 149-yards rushing and 150-yards passing for a total offense of 299-yards. D. J. Harrison led the Panthers rushing attack with 22 carries for 117-yards (including touchdowns of 4 and 9-yards), followed by T. J. Shaffer with 7 for 37 (including a 6-yard touchdown), Parrish Fells with 1 for 1-yard, and Brandon Workinger with 2 for minus 1-yard. Quarterback Workinger completed 12 of 17 passes for 159-yards and 2 touchdowns, 5 for 71-yards to Blaine Liggins (including a 22-yard touchdown), 2 for 32-yards to T. J. Shaffer, 2 for 21-yards to Fells, 1 for 20-yards to Brandon Baker, 1 for 10-yards and a touchdown to Kyle Baublitz, and 1 for 5-yards to Harrison, for the Panthers. Alex Kelly kicked a 31-yard field goal and 5 extra points for the Panthers. Baublitz leads the Panthers defense with 107 tackles for the season and has 9 receptions for 129-yards and 2 touchdowns on offense, and has several colleges drooling over him.

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 pre-game show entitled “B-Classical” and featuring the energetic rhythms of Bernstein, passionate melodies of Borodini, and empowering harmony of Bizet. The 136 member Central York Marching Band put on a fine half time show under the theme “A Pirate’s Life,” featuring “Prologue from Hook,” “Pirate Medley,” and three themes from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The 25 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Mustangs Mascot, and the Panthers Cheer Leaders were very impressive in rousing their fandom.

The Mustangs of South Western are 3-5-0 overall and 2-3-0 in York Area Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 172-76-1 (.694) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 313-194-8. The results of the 515 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .617 winning percentage and a .623 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs continue league play and travel to the den of the Bearcats of York High (William Penn). The Bearcats are coming off of a 53-19 victory over the Rockets of Spring Grove. From here it looks like the Mustangs are ready to give it their all for the fun of the game and for Mustang Pride. GO MUSTANGS GO.