SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2011-9

By Bill Engelhardt
________

Last Friday evening, October 21, the Mustangs of South Western traveled to the den of the Lions of Red Lion in YAIAA Division I action and galloped to a 21-14 victory on the fleet feet of sophomore Dillon Thomas. The Mustangs sit alone at the top of Division I of the YAIAA and are in great shape to vie for the title.

The Lions opened the game with a 12 play drive for 34-yards, only to punt. The Mustangs went three and out and punted and the Lions returned the favor with their own three and out and punt. The Mustangs ran two plays and fumbled and Brooks Arnold recovered for the Lions at the Mustangs 28-yard line.

The Lions took full advantage of the short field. An incomplete pass was followed by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Tanner Klinefelter to Erik Althoff. Sure-footed Pete Pitilis drilled the extra point kick and the Lions were on top 7-0 with 1:18 to go in the first quarter.

The defenses prevailed for a while as the Mustangs and the Lions exchanged punts twice. Then the Mustangs punted again. The Lions started at their 20-yard line. Dan Althoff ran to the 32 and then the 35. Jeremy Loughlin caused Klinefelter to fumble as he was being sacked on the next play and Devon Ackerman recovered the ball for the Mustangs at the Lions 29-yard line.

Zach Gross was sacked at the 35-yard line but then threw a 10-yard pass to Jaelen Langenfeld. Mike Felton the scampered 18-yards to the 9-yard line and Thomas scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 9-yard run. The extra point was missed and the Lions still led 7-6 with 2:38 to go in the first half.

The Mustangs opened the second half pounding the ball down the field. Felton and Thomas took turns chalking up chunks of yardage as the Mustangs moved from the 24-yard line to the 47-yard line in five plays. Thomas topped it off with a 53-yard touchdown sprint and Felton ran in for a 2-point conversion. The Mustangs went on top 14-7 at the 9:52 point in the third quarter.

The Lions went three and out and punted. The Mustangs drove from their 31-yaed line to the Lions 36-yard line in eight plays, featuring a 9-yard run by Felton, a 5-yard run by Carnie Fryfogle, a 4-yard run by Reid Cruz, and an 8-yard pass from Gross to Thomas, only to fumble and have Ben Axe recover the first of his two fumble recoveries. The Lions ended up punting and the Mustangs punted after five plays and 21-yards.

The Lions took over on their 29-yard line and three plays later Mike Duffy intercepted a pass at the Mustangs 43-yard line. Four runs by Thomas brought the pigskin to the Lions 33-yard line. Thomas’s fifth run was a 33-yard touchdown jaunt and the all Thomas 57-yard touchdown drive and the extra point kick by Jake Tracy put the Mustangs up 21-7 with 9:49 to go in the game.

The Lions went three and out and threw an incomplete pass on a fake punt attempt. The Mustangs took over on the Lions 34-yard line, only to fumble three plays later and have Ben Axe recover his second fumble for the Lions. The Lions then drove 63-yards in seven plays, featuring five completed passes by Klinefelter. A 14-yard strike to Damien Hess put the Lions in Mustang territory at the 43-yard line. A 16-yard pass to Seth Haight moved the ball to the 20, a 12-yard scamper by Klinefelter got to the 8-yard line and Klinefelter threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Erik Althoff. Pitilis added the extra point kick and the Lions closed to within 21-14 with 5:05 left in the game.

However, that ended the scoring in the game. The Mustangs punted and the Lions had one more shot at it but a drive that started on the Mustangs 48-yard line was thwarted by a sack by Fryfogle for a three yard loss, two incomplete passes, and a turnover on downs.

The Mustangs were then able to run out the clock, ending the game by taking a knee.

Felton kicked off 4 times for 175-yards, with the longest going for 60-yards and a touchback, and he punted 7 times for 262-yards, for an average of 37.43-yards, with the longest going for 43-yards. Dillon Langenfeld returned 1 kickoff for 11-yards and returned 2 punts for 14 yards, with the longest going for 13-yards, twin brother Jaelen Langenfeld returned 1 kickoff for 8-yards, and 2 punts for 34-yards, with the longest going for 22-yards, Dillon Thomas returned 1 kickoff for 2-yards, and Carnie Fryfogle fair caught 1 punt, for the Mustangs.

Carnie Fryfogle led the defense again with 13 tackles (giving him a team leading 108 for the season) and a sack, followed by Keith Pappas with 11 tackles, Mike Felton with 10 tackles and a pass defense, Reid Cruz with 6 tackles and a pass hurry, Ryan Dotson with 5 tackles, a sack and a pass hurry, Jeremy Loughlin with 5 tackles and a sack, Chad Kolper with 4 tackles, 3 sacks and 2 pass hurries, Zach Townsend with 4 tackles, Devon Ackerman with 3 tackles and a fumble recovery, Rich Delea with 3 tackles, and Eddie Lane, Jerome Robinson and Bobby Wildasin 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. Mike Duffy, Mike Felton, and Jerome Robinson patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 273-yards rushing and 20-yards passing for a total of 293-yards of offense. Dillon Thomas led the Mustangs rushing attack with 27 carries for 201-yards (including touchdowns of 9. 53, and 33-yards), followed by Mike Felton with 14 for 57-yards, Reid Cruz with 1 for 20-yards, Carnie Fryfogle with 2 for 1-yard, Dakotah Moses with 1 for no yards, and Zach Gross with 2 for minus 6-yards. Quarterback Gross completed 5 of 8 passes for 20-yards, 2 for 10-yards to Thomas, 1 for 10-yards to Jaelen Langenfeld, and 2 for no yards to Felton, for the Mustangs. Felton ran in for a 2-point conversion, Jake Tracy kicked 1 extra point, Mike Duffy intercepted a pass and Devon Ackerman recovered a fumble, for the Mustangs.

The Lions gained 59-yards rushing and 149-yards passing for a total of 208-yards gained. Dan Althoff led the Lions rushing attack with 16 carries for 62-yards, followed by Erick Toscano with 2 for 5-yards, Erik Althoff with 1 for 1-yard, and Tanner Klinefelter with 11 carries for minus 9-yards. Quarterback Klinefelter completed 17 of 26 passes for 149-yards and 2 touchdowns, 7 for 58-yards to Erik Althoff (including touchdowns of 28 and 8-yards), 2 for 50-yards to Seth Haight, 4 for 20-yards to Mitch Baublitz, 1 for 13-yards to Damien Hess, 2 for 5-yards to Dan Althoff, and 1 for 3-yards to Toscano, for the Lions. Pete Pitilis kicked 2 extra points, Ben Axe recovered 2 fumbles, Brooks Arnold recovered 1 fumble, and Nick Kocman recorded a sack, for the Lions.

Toscano led the Lions defense with 15 tackles, followed by Axe with 14, AJ Hungerford with 9, Erik Althoff with 7, Arnold and Zach Nichols with 6 tackles each, Dalton Fishel and Kocman with 5 tackles each, Mitch Baublitz with 3, Don Gurreri with 2 tackles, and Dan Althoff, Roland Brown-Morrow, Haight, and Matt Wanbaugh with 1 tackle each.

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 Red Lion Lions Marching Band put on a great post game performance with their show “24 Frames Per Second,” featuring themes from “Mission Impossible,” “Cadillac of the Skies,” “The Simpsons,” and “Psycho.” The Mustangs and Lions Cheer Leading squads were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

The Mustangs of South Western are 6-2-0 overall and 3-0-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

Don Seidenstricker has a 193-87-1 (.689) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 334-205-8. The results of the 547 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .620 winning percentage and a .625 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs will host the Bearcats of York High, William Penn (2-6 Overall, 1-2 league). The Bearcats are coming off of a 42-20 victory over the Rockets of Spring Grove (1-7 overall, 0-3 league). The Mustangs are looking to gallop their way on to victory. GO MUSTANGS GO.