SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2010-4

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 17, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Mid-Penn Keystone Division Falcons of Lower Dauphin and galloped to a 26-14 victory. The trio of Jeff Hacker, Mike Felton and Ryan Sexton was unstoppable. Falcons coach Rob Klock said they had prepared for Felton and Sexton and were completely surprised by Hacker, who led the charge with 201-yards rushing for the Mustangs. Jesse Good’s 2 touchdown passes in 4 completions sure kept the Falcons off balance as well.

The Falcons started the game with an 11 play, 72-yard drive that featured runs by the trio if Jordan Kennedy, Marco Palermo and Taylor Paul, and a 21-yard pass from Casey Kulina to Brad Ebersole to the 3-yard line. Palermo scored on a 3-yard run and the Falcons went up 6-0 at 7:01.

The Mustangs countered immediately with a 7 play 56-yard drive. Mike Felton and Ryan Sexton had some nice runs but the drive featured a 17-yard pass from Jesse Good to Felton and a 19-yard touchdown strike to Felton. Felton also kicked the extra point and the Mustangs took a 7-6 lead at the 4:11 mark in the first quarter.

The Falcons came right back with 10 play 71-yard drive. Paul led the drive with 6 carries, ending with his 8-yard touchdown run. Kulina passed to Travis Morrill for the 2-point conversion and the Falcons led 14-7 at the 10:52 mark in the second quarter. There would be a lot of marching up and down the field by both teams for the rest of the game but that would be the end of the scoring for the Falcons. Falcons Ebersole, Palermo and Tim Gamber all left the game with injuries.

The Mustangs drove 71-yards in six plays, featuring Sexton’s neat 45-yard run. Hacker’s 5-yard touchdown run and Felton’s extra point kick tied the score at 14 at the 7:52 mark in the half.

The Falcons drove 58-yards, only to turn the ball over on downs at the Mustangs 12-yard line. Hacker’s nifty 55-yard dash to the Falcons 33-yard line was followed by Good’s 14-yard pass to Felton. A penalty put the ball back to the Falcons 24-yard line and Good lofted a perfect 24-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Nicklas, putting the Mustangs up 20-14 with 36 seconds left in the half.

The Mustangs opened the second half with a 63-yard drive, featuring Hacker’s 40-yard run. Brady Stevenson intercepted a pass for the Falcons to end that drive but the Falcons subsequent drive ended by turning the ball over in downs at the Mustangs 21-yard line.

The Mustangs drove 79-yards in 11 plays. Felton, Hacker and Sexton took turns pounding the ball down the field. Felton’s 9-yard touchdown jaunt closed out the scoring for the Mustangs, putting them up 26-14 with 9 seconds left in the third quarter.

Mike Pugh ended a Falcons drive with an interception and he recovered a Hacker fumble at the end of a 14-yard run to keep a Mustangs drive alive. The Mustangs turned the ball over on downs at the Falcons 11-yard line. The Falcons went three and out and punted and the Mustangs ran out the clock to end the game.

Felton kicked off 4 times for 185-yards, with the longest going for 49-yards, and the Mustangs never punted. Felton returned 2 kickoffs for 36-yards, with the longest going for 19, yards, and Tommy Nicklas returned 1 kickoff for 14-yards for the Mustangs.

Jake Shaffer, who had 15 tackles and a pass hurry, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Mike Felton with 10 tackles and 3 pass defenses, Matt Funk and Ryan Sexton with 10 tackles each, Cody Kephart with 9 tackles, Aaron Bosley and Leonard Sturgis with 8 tackles each, Keith Pappas with 7 tackles, Mike Pugh with 3 tackles and an interception, Carnie Fryfogle and Chad Kolper with 3 tackles each, Jeff Hacker with 2 tackles and a pass defense, Brady Conroy and Brandon Krise with 2 tackles each, and Rich Delea and Dakotah Moses with 1 tackle each.

Aaron Bosley, Brady Conroy, Carnie Fryfogle, Matt Funk, Josh Hertz, Jeff Hacker, Cody Kephart, Keith Pappas, Ryan Sexton, Jake Shaffer, and Leonard Sturgis, manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions. Marty Deal, Mike Felton, and Mike Pugh, patrolled the secondary, with help from Casey Froehlich, and the versatile Jeff Hacker who contributed in the secondary in addition to his duties at linebacker, for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 391-yards rushing and 78-yards passing for a total of 469-yards of offense. Hacker led the Mustangs rushing attack with 17 carries for 201-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), followed by Felton with 14 for 116-yards (including a 7-yard touchdown, Sexton with 7 for 68-yards, Mike Pugh with 2 for 8-yards, and Jesse Good with minus 2-yards. Quarterback Good completed 4 of 7 passes for 74-yards and 2 touchdowns, 3 for 54-yards to Felton (including a 19-yard touchdown), and 1 for 24-yards and a touchdown to Tommy Nicklas, for the Mustangs. Felton kicked 2 extra points for the Mustangs. Pugh recovered a Mustangs fumble to retain possession for the Mustangs and he intercepted a pass for the Mustangs.

The Lower Dauphin Falcons rang up 281-yards rushing and 54 yards passing for a total of 335 yards gained. Taylor Paul led the Falcons rushing attack with 20 carries for 131-yards (including an 8-yard touchdown), followed by Jordan Kennedy with 13 for 93-yards, Marco Palermo with 8 for 43-yards (including a 3-yard touchdown), and Russ Hammaker with 1 for 14-yards. Quarterback Casey Kulina completed 5 of 18 passes for 54-yards, 1 for 21-yards to Brad Ebersole, 1 for 13-yards to Quincy Nissley, 1 for 10-yards to Palermo, 1 for 8-yards to Hammaker, and 1 for 2-yards to Travis Morrill, for the Falcons. Kulina threw a 2-point conversion pass to Morrill for the Falcons. Falcons Ebersole, Palermo and Tim Gamber all left the game with injuries.

The 9-time Cavalcade of Bands Champions, Tournament of Bands Group IV Champion and US Scholastic Band Champion South Western Mustangs Marching Band proudly made a pregame presentation of its 2010 field show “Los Sonidas de España.” The show opened with “Grenada,” followed by John Tesh’s “Barcelona,” and “The Toreador Song” from Bizet’s opera Carmen. The show closed with an arrangement of Michael Daugherty’s Candelabra Rumba and the traditional España Cañi. The Lower Dauphin Falcons Marching Band out on a spirited half-time show. The 23 gals and 1 guy Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Falcons cheerleading squad roused the faithful with their exuberant cheering.

The Mustangs of South Western are 2-1-0 overall and 0-0-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 185-80-1 (.698) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 326-198-8. The results of the 532 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 visit the Division II Warriors of Susquehannock (1-2 overall, 0-0 league). Susquehannock is coming off of a 49-19 loss to the Panthers of Central Dauphin East. The Mustangs are looking to gallop along in their winning tradition. GO MUSTANGS GO.