SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2011-8

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, October 14, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Panthers of Central York in YAIAA Division I action and came away with a thrilling 26-20 victory. The Mustangs played the game with a heavy heart because one of their players, Ben Bynaker, was a victim in a murder-suicide last weekend. Ben’s father killed his wife, Tammy, and Ben, and then himself.

In a heartwarming spirit of unity in sympathy and support, every one of the 22 teams in the York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association wore a decal on their helmets this weekend, with a Mustang and the number 81. The Mustangs helmet had that decal and the black Mustang on each side, with the initials BB on one of them and the number 81 on the other. The Mustangs entered the field before the game from the isles of the grandstands and lofted white balloons after a stirring tribute to Ben by Stadium Announcer Carroll Granger. Just before the start of the game the entire Central York team lined up along their sideline and walked over to the Mustangs sideline to shake hands with all of the Mustangs. Needless to say there was hardly a dry eye in the house after this magnanimous gesture.

The Mustangs opened the game by going three and out and punting. The Panthers then drove 46-yards in eight plays, only to turn the ball over on downs at the Mustangs 27-yard line.

The Mustangs then drove 73-yards in twelve plays, featuring a 28-yard pass from Zach Gross to Keith Pappas, and ending with Mike Felton’s 3-yard touchdown plunge. The Mustangs were up 6-0 at the 2:30 mark in the first quarter.

The Panthers then drove 50-yards in five plays, featuring a 57-yard run by Marquis Fells, only to turn the ball over on downs again at the Mustangs 16-yard line. Rich Delea’s tackle of Sherief Sutton for a 7-yard loss was followed by 2 incomplete passes to end the Panthers’ drive.

The Mustangs then ended up losing yardage to the 11 and Felton got off a 58-yard punt. The Panthers then drove 70-yards in four plays, featuring a 57-yard pass from Brandon Baker to Jake Sinkovitz, and ending with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Baker to Jalil Ford. Tom Flinchbaugh’s extra point kick put the Panthers up 7-6 at the 9:23 mark in the second quarter.

Dillon Langenfeld returned the kickoff 19-yards to the Mustangs 44-yard line, but they ended up punting. The Panthers drove 86-yards in nine plays, featuring runs of 16 and 45-yards by Marquis Fells, only to turn the ball over on downs for the third time, this time at the Mustangs 4-yard line.

The Mustangs ended up punting and the Panthers started a six-play drive at the Mustangs 34-yard line. Baker threw a 20-yard scoring strike to Ford and the Panthers were up 13-6 with 37 seconds left in the first half.

The Panthers opened the second half at their 14-yard line with a 2-yard loss by Fells and then Jerome Robinson intercepted a pass from Baker for the Mustangs at the Panthers 30-yard line. The Mustangs’ six-play drive, featuring an 18-yard pass from Gross to Dillon Thomas, ended with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Gross. The Panthers were still up 13-12 at the 8:17 mark in the third quarter.

The Panthers then drove 62-yards in nine plays, featuring a 29-yard pass from Baker to Corey Hartz to the Mustangs 31-yard line and ending with Baker’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Hartz. Flinchbaugh’s extra point kick upped the score to 20-12 in favor of the Panthers with 2:02 to go in the third quarter.

The Mustangs then started a drive at the Panthers 37-yard line after a 32-yard kickoff return by Jaelen Langenfeld. Eight plays later the Mustangs turned the ball over on downs at the Panthers 9-yard line. The Panthers ended up punting and the Mustangs took over on their 40-yard line. Felton gained 2-yards to the 42-yard line and Gross threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Jerome Robinson. This made the score 20-18, still in favor of the Panthers, with 8:28 to go in the game.

The Panthers then went three and out and punted. The Mustangs then drove 56-yards in 15 plays, featuring a 7-yard pass from Gross to Pappas, and a 9-yad run by Dillon Thomas, and ending with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Gross to Robinson. Thomas ran in for a 2-point conversion and the Mustangs took a 26-20 lead for the first time with one minute left in the game.

The Panthers turned over the ball on downs in four plays, sealing the victory for the Mustangs.

Felton kicked off 5 times for 231-yards, with the longest going for 51-yards, and he punted 4 times for 171-yards, for an average of 42.75-yards, with the longest going for 58-yards. Jaelen Langenfeld returned 2 kickoffs for 32-yards, with the longest going for 25-yards, and twin brother Dillon Langenfeld returned 1 kickoff for 19-yards and returned 2 punts for no yards.

Carnie Fryfogle led the defense again as usual with 11 tackles (giving him a team leading 95 for the season), followed by Mike Felton with 8 tackles, Rich Delea with 7 tackles, 1 sack and 1 pass hurry, Chad Kolper with 7 tackles and a pass hurry, Keith Pappas with 7 tackles, Reid Cruz with 6 tackles, Zach Townsend with 5 tackles, Devon Ackerman and Jeremy Loughlin with 4 tackles each, Jerome Robinson with 3 tackles, and an interception, Ryan Dotson with 2 tackles, and Dillon Langenfeld and Eddie Lane with 1 tackle each.

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

The Mustangs gained 132-yards rushing and 109-yards passing for a total of 241-yards of offense. Dillon Thomas led the Mustangs rushing attack with 20 carries for 69-yards, followed by Mike Felton with 19 for 56-yards (including a 3-yard touchdown), Dakotah Moses with 3 for 3-yards, Reid Cruz with 2 for 2-yards, and Zach Gross with 2 carries for 2-yards (including a 1-yard touchdown). Quarterback Gross completed 6 of 10 passes for 109-yards and 2 touchdowns, 2 for 64-yards to Jerome Robinson (including touchdowns of 58 and 6-yards), 2 for 34-yards to Keith Pappas, 1 for 18-yards to Thomas, and 1 for minus 7-yards to Felton, for the Mustangs. Dillon ran in for a 2-point conversion and Robinson intercepted a pass for the Mustangs.

The Panthers gained 196-yards rushing and 185-yards passing for a total of 381-yards gained. Marques Fells led the Panthers rushing attack with 13 carries for 143-yards, followed by Saladin Dickson with 6 for 30-yards, Sherief Sutton with 7 for 16-yards, and Brandon Baker with 5 carries for 7-yards. Quarterback Baker completed 11 of 24 passes for 185-yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 for 60-yards to Jake Sinkovitz, 2 for 55-yards to Corey Hartz (including a 29-yard touchdown), 5 for 37-yards to Jalil Ford (including touchdowns of 3 and 20-yards), 1 for 21-yards to Fells, and 1 for 12-yards to Travis Shaffer, for the Panthers. Thomas Flinchbaugh kicked 2 extra points for the Panthers.

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 pre-game 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 Central York Panthers Marching Band put on a rousing half time performance with their show “US Tour 2011,” featuring “Georgia on my Mind,” “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” “New York State of Mind,” “Philadelphia Freedom,” “Viva Las Vegas,” and “Surfin’ USA.” Unfortunately, wet field conditions forced both bands to perform on the track, with no marching. The Mustangs and Panthers Cheer Leading squads were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

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

Don Seidenstricker has a 192-87-1 (.688) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 333-205-8. The results of the 546 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .619 winning percentage and a .625 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs will visit the Lions of Red Lion (5-2 Overall, 1-1 league). The Lions are coming off of a 49-7 victory over the Rockets of Spring Grove. The Mustangs are looking to gallop and pass their way along on the winning track. GO MUSTANGS GO.