SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2008-11

By Bill Engelhardt
________

Last Friday evening, November 6, the Mustangs of South Western ended their 2009 regular season by hosting the Colonials of New Oxford at the Mustang Corral and galloped to a 42-13 victory. This is the 15th outright or shared title in the 50-year history of the Mustangs football program, the fourth since 2000, and the 10th since 1992. The Mustangs also garnered the YAIAA Division I Hanover Area Cup for the 7th straight year.

The Mustangs started off the game with an 11 play 59-yard drive, featuring a 13-yard pass from Ian Smith to Jimmy Nicklas and a 15-yard jaunt by Levi Sager. The drive ended with Sager’s 13-yard touchdown scamper, and Smith’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 7-0 with 7:35 left in the first quarter.

The Colonials possession was short lived as after two plays Colby Fuhrman recovered a fumble for the Mustangs at the Colonials 25-yard line. Two plays later Smith tossed a perfect 27-yard touchdown pass to Mike Felton, and Smith’s extra point kick upped the score to 14-0 at the 5:47 mark.

The Colonial’s next possession was equally short lived as after two plays Dan Laird recovered a fumble at the Colonial’s 36-yard line. Kyle King dashed 15-yards to the 21, J. R. Mummert gained 2-yards to the 19, and Sager scampered 19-yards for a touchdown. Smith’s extra point kick upped the score to 21-0 with 3:23 left in the first quarter.

The rest of that quarter and most of the second quarter passed with no further scoring. Jimmy Nicklas recovered a Colonials fumble and each team turned the ball over on downs (the Mustangs turnover came on a fake punt run that failed to pick up the first down). Jimmy Nicklas intercepted a colonial’s pass to set the Mustangs up on their own 28-yard line. The 9 play drive, featuring passes from Smith of 13-yards to Sager, 17-yards to Kyle Mahorney, 13-yards to Sager, and 11-yards to Jimmy Nicklas, ended with Smith’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Conaboy. Smith’s extra point kick upped the score to 28-0 with 2 seconds left in the half.

The Colonials started the second half with a 4 play 63-yard drive, featuring a 42-yard run by Mike Bivens. The drive ended with a 14-yard touchdown run by Bivens, and an extra point kick by Juan Sanchez-Moreno made the score 28-7 at the 10:10 mark in the third quarter.

The Mustangs answered with a 10 play 66-yard drive, featuring a 20-yard pass from Smith to J. R. Mummert. Kyle King scampered 12-yards for a touchdown and Smith’s extra point made the score 35-7 at the 5:40 point in the third quarter.

The Colonials countered with a 12 play 66-yard drive, featuring a 34-yard run by Bivens. Bivens ended the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge.

The Mustangs then launched a 12 play 71-yard drive, featuring a 10-yard run by King, 8 and 16-yard runs by Tyrell McCleary, and a 10-yard run by Mummert. Mummert ended the drive with a 3-yard touchdown plunge and Phil Propalis kicked the extra point to close out the scoring at 42-13 with 5:00 minutes left in the game.

Jake Myers led the Mustangs defense with 15 tackles, followed by Billy Utz with 8 tackles, Cody Fricke with 7 tackles, Kyle Mahorney with 6 tackles, Colby Fuhrman, Jimmy Nicklas, and Jake Shaffer with 4 tackles each, David Messinger with 3 tackles, and Aaron Bosley, Mike Felton, Ben Fogle, Matt Funk, Josh Hertz, Dan Laird, Tyrell McCleary, Levi Sager, Ryan Sexton, Ian Smith, and Leon Sturgis with 2 tackles each. Jimmy Nicklas intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, Colby Fuhrman and Dan Laird each recovered a fumble, David Messinger recorded a sack for an 8-yard loss, and Kyle Mahorney was credited with a pass hurry, for the Mustangs.

Levi Sager returned 2 kickoffs for 55-yards, with the longest going for 33-yards, and Jeff Hacker returned 1 kickoff for no yards. Kyle King returned 1 punt for 5-yards for the Mustangs. Norton Redding kicked off 7 times for 321-yards, with the longest going for 58-yards for the Mustangs. The Mustangs did not punt in the game.

Aaron Bosley, Mason Brady, Mike Felton, Cody Fricke, Colby Fuhrman, Dan Laird, Kyle Mahorney, David Messinger, Jake Myers, Ryan Sexton, Jake Shaffer, Billy Utz, and Anthony Wildasin manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions, with help from Brady Conroy, Ben Fogle, Matt Funk, Josh Hertz and Leonard Sturgis. Kyle King, Tyrell McCleary, Jimmy Nicklas, and Levi Sager patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 300-yards rushing and 130-yards passing for a total of 430- yards of offense. J. R. Mummert led the Mustangs rushing attack with 25 carries for 111-yards (including a 3-yard touchdown), followed by Levi Sager with 11 carries for 79-yards (including touchdowns of 13 and 19-yards), Kyle King with 9 carries for 67-yards (including a 12-yard touchdown), Tyrell McCleary with 6 carries for 28-yards, Bobby Porter with 1 carry for 12-yards, Ben Fogle with 1 carry for 2-yards, and Ian Smith with 1 carry for 1-yard. Quarterback Smith completed 10 of 17 passes for 130-yards and 2 touchdowns, 1 for 27-yards and a touchdown to Mike Felton, 2 for 26-yards to Sager, 2 for 24-yards to Jimmy Nicklas, 2 for 22-yards to Mummert, 1 for 17-yards to Kyle Mahorney, 1 for 13-yards to King, and 1 for 1-yard and a touchdown to Kyle Conaboy, for the Mustangs. Smith kicked 5 extra points, Phil Propalis kicked an extra point, Jimmy Nicklas intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, Colby Fuhrman and Dan Laird each recovered a fumble, and David Messinger recorded a sack for an 8-yard loss, for the Mustangs.

The Colonials gained 210-yards rushing and 7-yards passing for a total offense of 210-yards. Mike Bivens led the Colonials rushing attack with 14 carries for 95-yards (including touchdowns of 14 and 1-yards), followed by Nick Rebert with 8 carries for 44-yards, Zack Groft with 2 carries for 34-yards, James Eline with 7 carries for 30-yards, Quinn Starner with 1 carry for 4-yards, Jared Hagerman with 1 carry for 2-yards, and Sean Odom with 1 carry for 1-yard. Quarterback Bivens completed 1 of 4 passes for 7-yards to Groft, for the Colonials. Juan Sanchez-Moreno kicked 1 extra point and Steve Sanders intercepted a pass, for the Colonials.

The 83 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 post-game show. The field production of the 2009 edition of the Band, under the guidance of second year Director Ethan Clark, is titled “Horsing Around in the Mustang Corral” and is a 50th anniversary musical celebration featuring the school “Alma Mater,” “Magnificent 7,” a lullaby of “All The Pretty Little Horses,” and “The Red Pony.” The New Oxford Colonials Marching Band also put on a great crowd-pleasing show at half time. The 25 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Colonials Cheer Leaders were very impressive in rousing the excited crowd.

The Mustangs of South Western ended their regular season at 9-1-0 overall and 6-1-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 182-78-1 (.700) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 323-196-8. The results of the 527 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .622 winning percentage and a .628 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs move on to the first round of the District 3 class AAAA playoffs and as the 4th seed they will host the 13th seeded Colts of Cedar Cliff (6-4 overall, 3-1 Mid-Penn Keystone Division) at the Mustang Corral. The Colts are coming off of a 40-6 win over the Panthers of Central Dauphin East (1-9 overall, 0-4 Mid-Penn Keystone Division). From here it looks like the Mustangs are ready to march on in the District 3 playoffs. GO MUSTANGS GO.