SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2008-12

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, November 13, as the 4th seed in District 3, class AAAA, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the 13th seeded Colts of Cedar Cliff, of the Mid-Penn Keystone Division, at the Mustang Corral in the first round of the playoffs and came away with a thrilling 41-34 victory. Mike Felton’s electrifying 75-yard interception return with 7:35 left in the game was the winning score. But the outcome wasn’t decided until Levi Sager’s interception of a Colts pass ended their final drive.

Sager recovered a Colt’s fumble on the 50-yard line on the second play of the game. Ian Smith completed a 21-yard pass to Kyle King and J. R. Mummert raced 29-yards for a touchdown one minute and eight seconds into the game. Smith’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 7-0.

The Colts ended up punting and the Mustangs drove 69-yards in 12 plays, featuring a 12-yard run by King, and a 15-yard pass from Smith to Sager. Mummert plunged in from the 1-yard line and the score went to 13-0 at the 3:52 mark in the first quarter.

The Colts ended up punting again and the Mustangs drove 62-yards in 7 plays, featuring an 8-yard pass from Smith to Felton. Sager scampered 26-yards for a touchdown and the score went to 19-0 at the 10:13 mark in the second quarter.

The Colts punted again but the Mustangs muffed the reception and Andre Washington recovered for the Colts at the Mustangs 9-yard line. Dan Moore then scampered in for a 9-yard touchdown and he also ran in for a 2-point conversion, making the score 19-8 at the 8:57 mark.

The Mustangs then ended up punting and Tyler Orris threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Quinn Bower. That made the score 19-14 at the 6:31 mark in the second quarter.

The Mustangs fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Josh Wingard recovered for the Colts at the Mustangs 28. Four plays later Dan Moore plunged in from the 2 and the Colts went on top 20-19 at the 5:38 mark. The first half ended with no further scoring.

The Mustangs fumbled on the first play of the second half and Tate Moore-Jacobs recovered it and returned it 32-yards for a touchdown. Gabriel Barrera kicked the extra point and the Colts were up 27-19 only 20 seconds into the third quarter.

The Colts intercepted a Mustangs pass to end the next drive. After a sack by Jake Shaffer for a 10-yard loss, the Colts turned the ball over on downs to the Mustangs. The Mustangs then drove 75-yards in 9 plays, featuring an 11-yard pass from Smith to Felton, a 17-yard Smith pass to Kyle Mahorney, and a 12-yard Smith pass to Sager. Smith’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Felton and Smith’s 2-point conversion pass to Jimmy Nicklas tied the score at 27 at the 1:50 mark in the third quarter.

The Colts struck right back with a lateral from Tyler Orris to Quinn Bower and Bower’s 80-yard touchdown pass to Andre Washington. Barrera’s extra point kick put the Colts back on top 34-27 at the 1:33 mark in the third quarter.

The Mustangs retaliated with a 65-yard drive that ended with Mummert’s 1-yard touchdown plunge. Smith’s extra point kick tied the score again, at 34, with 10 minutes left in the game.

Mike Felton then capped it all off with his 75-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Mustangs. Smith’s extra point kick closed out the scoring at 41-34 in favor of the Mustangs with 7:35 left in the game. But Sager’s interception of a Colts pass was needed to finally secure the victory.

Jake Myers led the Mustangs defense with 14 tackles, followed by Cody Fricke and Jake Shaffer with 11 tackles each, Ryan Sexton with 10 tackles, Mike Felton with 7 tackles, Jimmy Nicklas with 6 tackles, Colby Fuhrman, Dan Laird and Kyle Mahorney with 5 tackles each, Levi Sager with 4 tackles, Kyle King and Billy Utz with 3 tackles each, Tommy Nicklas with 2 tackles, and Tyrell McCleary with 1 tackle. Mike Felton returned an interception 75-yards for the game winning touchdown, Levi Sager intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, Ian Smith kicked 3 extra points, and Sexton and Shaffer each recorded a sack, King and Fricke were each credited with 2 pass defenses, Ryan Sexton and Aaron Bosley were each credited with a pass defense, and Fricke, Mahorney, Shaffer and Utz were each credited with a pass hurry, for the Mustangs.

Levi Sager returned 4 kickoffs for 91-yards, with the longest going for 28-yards, and Tyrell McCleary returned 1 kickoff for 12-yards. Kyle King returned 1 punt for 3-yards for the Mustangs. Norton Redding kicked off 7 times for 316-yards, with the longest going for 60-yards and a touchback for the Mustangs. Mike Felton punted 3 times for 99-yards for a 33-yard average, with the longest going for 38-yards, for the Mustangs.

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. Kyle King, Tyrell McCleary, Jimmy Nicklas, and Levi Sager patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 244-yards rushing and 119-yards passing for a total of 363- yards of offense. Levi Sager led the Mustangs rushing attack with 16 carries for 106-yards (including a 26-yard touchdown), followed by J. R. Mummert with 20 carries for 105-yards (including touchdowns of 29 and 1, and 1-yards), Kyle King with 7 carries for 24-yards, and Ian Smith with 6 carries for 9-yards. Quarterback Smith completed 11 of 18 passes for 119-yards and 1 touchdown, 3 for 39-yards to Mike Felton (including a 20-yard touchdown, 3 for 36-yards to Sager, 2 for 14-yards to Kyle King, 2 for 13-yards to Jimmy Nicklas, and 1 or 17-yards to Kyle Mahorney, for the Mustangs.

The Colts gained 143-yards rushing and 269-yards passing for a total offense of 412-yards. Dan Moore led the Colts rushing offense with 18 carries for 99-yards (including touchdowns of 9 and 2-yards), followed by Tyler Orris with 6 carries for 25-yards, and A. D. Huff with 5 carries for 19-yards. Quarterback Orris completed 16 of 34 passes for 189-yards, 5 for 23-yards to Andre Washington, 6 for 88-yards to Noel Abreu, 2 for 55-yards to Quinn Bower (including a 41-yard touchdown), 1 for 12-yards to Blaine Bower, and 2 for 11-yards to Dan Moore, and Quinn Bower completed 1 pass for 80-yards and a touchdown to Washington, for the Colts. Tate Moore-Jacobs returned a fumble 32-yards for a touchdown, Dan Moore ran in for a 2-point conversion, and Gabriel Barrera kicked 2 extra points, for the Colts.

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 pre-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 Cedar Cliff Colts Marching band out in a sparkling crowd-pleasing show during half time. The 25 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Colts Cheer Leaders were very good at rousing the excited crowd.

The Mustangs of South Western have a record of 10-1-0 overall and 6-1-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 183-78-1 (.701) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 324-196-8. The results of the 528 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .623 winning percentage and a .629 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs move on to the semifinal round of the District 3 class AAAA playoffs and as the 4th seed they will host the 5th seeded Comets of Penn Manor (9-2 overall, 4-2 Lancaster-Lebanon League Division 1) at the Mustang Corral. The Comets are coming off of a 35-14 win over the Trojans of Chambersburg (5-6 overall, 1-4 Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division). From here it looks like the Mustangs are ready to march on in the District 3 playoffs. GO MUSTANGS GO.