SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2011-4

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 17, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Mid-Penn Keystone Division Falcons of Lower Dauphin at the beautiful Hershey Park Stadium and galloped and passed to a 34-28 victory in a thriller. Dillon Thomas scored the winning touchdown on a 10-yard run with 33 seconds left in the game. But the rest of the night belonged to Temple University bound Mike Felton. Felton had 333 all-purpose yards (89 rushing, 124 receiving, and 120-yards on kickoff returns) and accounted for 20 points for the Mustangs. He scored touchdowns rushing, receiving, and on a 96-yard kickoff return, and caught a 2-point conversion pass.

The Mustangs opened the game with a 37-yard drive, featuring a 23-yard run by Reid Cruz, only to turn the ball over on downs at the Falcons 36-yard line. The Falcons drove 20-yards in six plays and their kicker, Joe Julius, attempted a 62-yard field goal that fell short.

The Mustangs then ended a drive with a punt. The Falcons then drove 79-yards in ten plays. Travis Morrill scored on a 20-yard run and the extra point kick by Julius put the Falcons up 7-0 at the 10:31 mark in the second quarter.

The Mustangs immediately retaliated when Felton returned the kickoff 96-yards for a touchdown. Jake Tracy’s extra point kick tied the score at 7 with 10:17 to go in the quarter.

The Falcons went three and out and punted and the Mustangs drove 50-yards in two plays, an 8-yard run by Dakotah Moses and a 42-yard touchdown sprint by Felton. Tracy’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 14-7 with 8:37 to go in the quarter.

The Falcons drove 27-yards to the Mustangs 34-yard line and Julius attempted a field goal. Dillon Langenfeld blocked the field goal, recovered the ball and returned it to the Falcons 30-yard line. Five plays later Thomas ran it in from the 5-yard line, upping the score to 20-7 in favor of the Mustangs with 2:21 left in the first half.

A Falcons drive was ended by Cruz sacking the quarterback. The Falcons punted and Dillon Langenfeld returned it 43-yards to the Falcons 24-yard line. The Mustangs drove to the 3-yard line and missed on a field goal attempt. That ended the first half.

The Falcons came out inspired to open the second half and drove 80-yards in eight plays, featuring a 37-yard pass from Ben Goss to Jack Miller and a 30-yard touchdown strike from Goss to Miller. The extra point kick by Julius made the score 20-14 with 7:22 to go in the third quarter.

The Mustangs went three and out and punted and the Falcons drove 66-yards in eight plays, featuring a 27-yard run by Josh Palmer and a 14-yard touchdown pass from Goss to Miller. The extra point kick by Julius put the Falcons up 21-20 with 2:21 to go in the third quarter.

Goss ended a Mustangs drive with an interception and Zach Townsend pretty much ended a Falcons drive with a sack. The Falcons punted and the Mustangs drove 79-yards in two plays, a 1-yard run by Felton and a 78-yard touchdown pass from Zach Gross to Felton. Gross then threw a 2-point conversion pass to Felton to put the Mustangs up 28-21 with 10:12 to go in the game.

Palmer returned the kickoff 42-yards to set the Falcons up at the Mustangs 38-yard line. A five-play drive, featuring a 23-yard pass from Goss to Quincy Nissley, ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Goss to Nissley. The extra point kick by Julius tied the score at 28 with 7:27 left in the game.

The Mustangs ended up punting and the Falcons gave the ball back to the Mustangs when Felton recovered a fumble at the Falcons 21-yard line. Gross then threw a touchdown strike to Felton but it was called back due to a penalty. The Mustangs punted from the 34-yard line and the Falcons took over on their 20. Loughlin ended that drive with another sack and the Falcons punted.

The Mustangs then drove 45-yards in four plays, featuring a 17-yard pass from Gross to Keith Pappas, an 11-yard run by Thomas, a 7-yard run by Felton, and ending with a 10-yard touchdown run by Thomas with 33 seconds left in the game. That made the final score 34-28 in favor of the Mustangs.

Felton kicked off 5 times for 225-yards, with the longest going for 54-yards, punted 4 times for 164-yards and a 41.0-yard average and returned 2 kickoffs for 120-yards, with the longest going for 96-yards for the Mustangs.

Keith Pappas, who had 13 tackles and a pass defense, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Carnie Fryfogle with 12 tackles, a sack and a pass defense, Jeremy Loughlin with 9 tackles, a sack and a pass hurry, Zach Townsend with 9 tackles and a sack, Brandon Krise with 9 tackles, Mike Felton with 8 tackles and a fumble recovery, Dillon Langenfeld with 7 tackles, a blocked field goal attempt, a fumble recovery and a pass defense, Reid Cruz with 7 tackles, a sack and a pass hurry, Ryan Dotson with 7 tackles, Devon Ackerman with 5 tackles, Brandon Stremmel with 4 tackles and a sack, Alex Baugher 4 tackles, Aram Moffit with 3 tackles, Rich Delea and Jaelen Langenfeld with 2 tackles each, Daulton James with 1 tackle and a caused fumble, and Logan Bowman with 1 tackle.

Devon Ackerman, Alex Baugher, Logan Bowman, Reid Cruz, Rich Delea, Ryan Dotson, Carnie Fryfogle, Matt Hawn, Jeremy Loughlin, Aram Moffit, Keith Pappas, Brandon Stremmel, and Zach Townsend, manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions, with help from Dillon Thomas. Mike Duffy, Mike Felton, Brandon Krise, Dillon Langenfeld, Jaelen Langenfeld, and Jerome Robinson, patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 181-yards rushing and 170-yards passing for a total of 351-yards of offense. Mike Felton led the Mustangs rushing attack with 14 carries for 89-yards (including a 42-yard touchdown), followed by Reid Cruz with 4 carries for 45-yards, Dillon Thomas with 5 carries for 39-yards (including touchdowns of 5 and 10-yards), Dakotah Moses with 10 carries for 20-yards, and Zach Gross with 2 carries for minus 12-yards. Quarterback Gross completed 7 of 12 passes for 170-yards and 1 touchdown), 3 for 124-yards to Felton (including a 78-yard touchdown), 1 for 19-yards to Moses, 2 for 17-yards to Keith Pappas, and 1 for 10-yards to Reid Cruz, for the Mustangs. Felton returned a kickoff 96-yards for a touchdown and recovered a fumble, Gross threw a 2-point conversion pass to Felton, Jake Tracy kicked 2 extra points, Dillon Langenfeld blocked a field goal attempt and recovered a fumble, Cruz, Carnie Fryfogle, Jeremy Loughlin, Brandon Stremmel, and Zach Townsend each recorded a sack, Keith Pappas registered 13 tackles and Fryfogle registered 12 tackles, for the Mustangs.

The Lower Dauphin Falcons rang up 123-yards rushing and 210-yards passing for a total of 333 yards gained. Travis Morill led the Falcons rushing attack with 18 carries for 74-yards (including a 1-yard touchdown), followed by Josh Palmer with 10 carries for 68-yards, Cole Robinson with 1 carry for 3-yards, Kenton Heinbaugh with 2 carries for minus 1-yard, and Zach Goss with 8 carries for minus 21-yards. Quarterback Goss completed 14 of 23 passes for 210-yards and 3 touchdowns, 5 for 114-yards to Miller (including touchdowns of 30 and 14-yards), 7 for 74-yards to Quincy Nissley (including an 11-yard touchdown), and 1 for 11-yards to Wade Weiser, for the Falcons. Joey Julius kicked 4 extra points for the Falcons.

The 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 stirring half time performance, presenting their 2011 field show “The Colors of Dreams.” The relaxing mallet introduction led to the haunting sound of “The Dream is Collapsing” from Inception, followed by “Zooster’s Rebellion” from Madagascar, the sorrowful longing of “Hummel Gets the Rockets,” from the Rock, and the show closed with “The Burning Bush,” from Prince of Egypt. The Lower Dauphin Falcons Marching Band put on a rousing pre-game performance. The Mustangs and Falcons Cheer Leading squads were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

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 189-86-1 (.687) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 330-204-8. The results of the 542 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .618 winning percentage and a .624 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs host the Division II Warriors of Susquehannock (0-3 overall, 0-0 league). Susquehannock is coming off of a 54-17 loss to the Panthers of Central Dauphin East. The Mustangs are looking to gallop along in their winning tradition. GO MUSTANGS GO.