SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2011-13

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, November 18, as the 9th seed the York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I Mustangs of South Western visited the 1st seeded Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division Eagles of Cumberland Valley in the quarterfinal round of the District 3 playoffs and lost 42-21, ending a hugely successful season. The Eagles (10-1 overall, 5-1 league) will next host the 5th seeded Lancaster-Lebanon Section 1 Bulldogs of Wilson (11-1 overall, 7-0 league) in the semifinal round at 7PM on November 25.

The Eagles began the game by going three and out and punting as the Mustangs held them to 4-yards. The Mustangs started off like a house afire, driving 15-yards in 3 plays, but then fumbled and the Eagles recovered at the Mustangs 42-yard line. The Eagles then drove 42-yards in eleven plays, featuring a 12-yard pass from Ben Fernback to Jeremy DiPietro and ending with a 1-yard touchdown run by Cole Johnson. Lance Geesey kicked the extra point and the Eagles were up 7-0 with 5:08 to go in the first quarter.

The Mustangs went three and out and punted from their 28-yard line and the Eagles drove 44-yards in six plays, featuring a 25-yard pass from Fernback to DiPietro and ending with a 14-yard touchdown pass to DiPietro. Geesey’s extra point kick put the Eagles up 14-0 with 1:15 to go in the first quarter.

The Mustangs went three and out and punted again. The Eagles drove 62-yards in eight plays, featuring a 14-yard run by DiPietro and a 27-yard run by Fernback, and ending with a 2-yard touchdown plunge by DiPietro. Geesey’s extra point kick upped the score to 21-0 with 8:25 to go in the second quarter.

The Mustangs then drove 68-yards in seven plays, featuring a 26-yard run by Dillon Thomas and ending with a beautiful 19-yard touchdown pass from Zach Gross to Mike Felton. Jake Tracy kicked the extra point and the Eagles were up 21-7 with 5:10 left in the first half.

The Mustangs fumbled the second half opening kickoff and the Eagles recovered at the Mustangs 37-yard line. Seven plays later Fernback threw an 11-yard touchdown strike to Alex Cutia and Geesey’s extra point kick put the Eagles up 28-7 with 9:07 to go in the third quarter.

The Mustangs got off two plays before Joe Dececco intercepted a pass for the Eagles. The Eagles then drove 35-yards in five plays, featuring a 20-yard run by Jeremy Salmon and ending with a 3-yard touchdown run by Salmon. Geesey’s extra point kick put the Eagles up 35-7 with 6:40 to go in the third quarter.

The Eagles poor kickoff ended up being an unintentional onside kick and Max Noonan recovered it for the Eagles. The Eagles then drove 28-yards in two plays, a 3-yard loss and a 31-yard touchdown sprint by Fernback. Geesey’s extra point kick upped the score to 42-7, and invoked the mercy rule, with 5:50 left in the third quarter.

The Eagles then substituted liberally. The Mustangs drove 33-yards, only to turn the ball over on downs at the Eagles 43-yard line. The Eagles went three and out and punted.

The Mustangs then drove 74-yards in three plays, ending with Mike Felton’s 52-yard touchdown run. Tracy’s extra point kick made the score 42-14 with 10:51 to go in the game.

The Eagles ended up turning the ball over on downs and the Mustangs drove 70-yards in nine plays, featuring a 6-yard pass from Gross to Brandon Krise, an 11-yard run by Reid Cruz, and a 28-yard run by Dillon Thomas, and ending with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Gross. Tracy’s extra point kick made the final score 42-21 in favor of the Eagles with 3:30 to go in the game.

Mike Felton kicked off 4 times for 200-yards, with the longest going for 59-yards, and punted 3 times for 107-yards, with the longest going for 44-yards, for a 35-67-yard average. For the season Felton punted 34 times for 1,411-yards, for a 41.5-yard average. Dillon Langenfeld returned 3 kickoffs for 27-yards, with the longest going for 13-yards, Felton returned 1 kickoff for 15-yards, and Reid Cruz returned 1 kickoff for 4-yards. Felton returned 1 punt for 15-yards and Jaelen Langenfeld returned 1 punt for 2-yards, for the Mustangs.

Carnie Fryfogle led the Mustangs defense with 16 tackles (giving him a team leading 163 and a new school record on the season) and a pass defense, followed by Chad Kolper with 13 tackles, Mike Felton and Keith Pappas with 11 tackles each, Ryan Dotson with 10 tackles, Devon Ackerman with 88 tackles, Zach Townsend with 7 tackles and a sack, Jeremy Loughlin with 5 tackles and a sack, Reid Cruz and Brandon Stremmel with 5 tackles each, Rich Delea with 4 tackles, Mike Duffy and Jerome Robinson with 3 tackles each, Logan Bowman and Dillon Thomas with 2 tackles each, and Alex Baugher, Brandon Barnhart, Ryan Klinedinst, Jaelen 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, Dakotah Moses, 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, with help from Brandon Krise and the Langenfeld twins, Dillon and Jaelen.

The Mustangs gained 247-yards rushing and 37-yards passing for a total of 284-yards of offense. Mike Felton led the Mustangs rushing attack with 13 carries for 123-yards (including a 52-yard touchdown), followed by Dillon Thomas with 10 for 91-yards (including touchdowns of 20 and 52-yards), Reid Cruz with 5 for 29-yards, Brady Stevenson with 1 carry for 12-yards, and Zach Gross with 4 carries for minus 8-yards (including a 1-yard touchdown). Quarterback Gross completed 5 of 13 passes for 37-yards and 1 touchdown, 1 for 19-yards and a touchdown to Felton, 2 for 11-yards to Brandon Krise, 1 for 4-yards to Jerome Robinson, and 1 for 3-yards to Keith Pappas, for the Mustangs. Jake Tracy kicked 3 extra points for the Mustangs.

The Eagles gained 276-yards rushing and 61-yards passing for a total of 337-yards gained. Ben Fernback led the Eagles rushing attack with 7 carries for 76-yards (including a 31-yard touchdown), followed by Jeremy Salmon with 10 for 51 (including a 3-yard touchdown), Aaron Hinish with 9 for 45, Cole Johnson with 9 for 32 (including a 1-yard touchdown), Jeremy DiPietro with 8 for 32 (including a 2-yard touchdown), Joe Dececco with 2 for 23, Brady Miller with 1 for 9, Tyler Hartzel with 5 for 8, McClain Fultz with 3 for 2-yards, Tyler Heisey with 1 for 1-yard, and Corey Johnson with 1 carry for minus 3-yards. Quarterback Fernback completed 4 of 7 passes for 61-yards and 2 touchdowns, 3 for 51-yards to DiPietro (including a 14-yard touchdown) and 1 for 11-yards and a touchdown to Alex Cutia, for the Eagles. Lance Geesey kicked 6 extra points, Joe Dececco intercepted a pass, Brian Aunspach, Devon Blewett, and Max Noonan each recovered a fumble, and Zach O’dell recorded a sack, for the Eagles.

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 Cumberland Valley Eagles Marching Band put on a great pre-game performance with their show “Hoist the Colors,” saluting the Pirates of Penzance. The Mustangs and Eagles Cheer Leading squads were very impressive as they roused the faithful in the playoff atmosphere.

The Mustangs of South Western ended their season 9-3-0 overall and 5-0-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play, taking sole possession of the Division I title.

Don Seidenstricker has a 196-88-1 (.690) record as coach of the Mustangs, who have a career record of 337-206-8. The results of the 551 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .621 winning percentage and a .626 non-losing percentage.

We bid a fond and tearful farewell and offer our best wishes for the future to the 24 departing seniors. We owe them all our gratitude for their efforts in providing us with exciting football over the course of their high school careers. They are: Brandon Barnhart, Alex Baugher, Tyler Burke, Reid Cruz, Rich Delea, Ryan Dotson, Michael Felton, Carnie Fryfogle, Jesse Good, Zach Gross, Matt Hawn, Jake Hunt, Ryan Klinedinst, Brandon Krise, Dillon Langenfeld, Jaelen Langenfeld, Jeremy Loughlin, Daniel McMillen, Keith Pappas, Steven Stambaugh, Brady Stevenson, Brandon Stremmel, Matt Stroda and Zack Townsend.

I want to say a very special thank you to Richard Lupro for faithfully compiling the official Offensive, Special Teams and Scoring statistics for the Mustangs, and for inputting them, and the Defensive statistics, at the Max Preps web site very quickly each week so that they were always available for my use. He was instrumental in coming up with many of the records that will be mentioned below. And a very special thank you also goes to longtime Mustangs line coach Chuck Seidenstricker for providing vital Defensive statistics to me, and to Dick Lupro, for input to the web site, after reviewing game films on very short notice.

The 2011 edition of the Mustangs of South Western gave their fans lots of excitement and thrills.

Temple University bound Mike Felton ended his season with 142 carries for 1,038-yards and 14 touchdowns rushing and 22 pass receptions for 409-yards and 6 touchdowns (putting him in 1st place in school history with 16 career touchdown receptions). For the season Felton punted 34 times for 1,411-yards, with the longest going for 60-yards, for a 41.5-yard average, putting him in 1st place in school history for season punting average. He also is in 4th place on the season punting average list with a 39.4-yard average for 2010. Felton tied for 3rd place in school history for career punting average with 37.3-yards. Felton also set a new school season scoring record with 156-points, a new school career scoring record with 302 points, a new school season touchdown record with 25, a new school record for career touchdowns with 47, a new school career pass reception yardage record with 1,156-yards, and a he finished in second place for career pass receptions with 69 (only 1 behind the record of 70 by Tom Rill), for the Mustangs. Felton will qualify for the “Keystone Club” at the Pennsylvania Football News in multiple categories.

Dillon Thomas ended his season with 146 carries for 1,058-yards and 15 touchdowns rushing and 6 pass receptions for 35-yards. This is believed to be the first time in school history that two players have rushed for over 1,000-yards for the season. This will put him in the “Keystone Club.”

Zach Gross ended his season completing 71 of 128 passes for 1,074-yards and 12 touchdowns, putting him in 4th place in school history for yardage and in a tie for 5th place for touchdown passes in a season, for the Mustangs. This will put him in the “Keystone Club.”

Carnie Fryfogle set a new school record with 163 tackles for the season, breaking the record of 151 set by Jason Gigous in 2006 in a 14 game season. This will put him in the “Keystone Club.”

Jake Tracy kicked 35 extra points for the season, putting him in 4th place in school history.

Felton led the team in scoring with 156 points, from 25 touchdowns and 3 two-point conversions. He was followed by Dillon Thomas with 92 points on 15 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion, Jake Tracy with 35 points on 35 extra point kicks, Zach Gross with 24 points on 4 touchdowns, Carnie Fryfogle with 20 points on 3 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion, Reid Cruz, Dillon Langenfeld, and Jerome Robinson with 12 points on 2 touchdowns each, and Keith Pappas and Bobby Wildasin each with 6 points on 1 touchdown. The team scored 375 points for the season.

Dillon Thomas had 146 carries for 1,058-yards and 15 touchdowns, followed by Mike Felton with 142 carries for 1,038-yards and 14 touchdowns, Dakotah Mosses with 52 carries for 232-yards, Reid Cruz with 32 carries for 186-yards, Bobby Wildasin with 15 carries for 119-yards and 1 touchdown, Dillon Langenfeld with 5 carries for 93-yards and 2 touchdowns, Carnie Fryfogle with 17 carries for 57-yards and 1 touchdown, Brady Stevenson with 9 carries for 39-yards, Jon Hoover with 3 carries for 16-yards, Nick Bond with 2 carries for 11-yards, Tyler Sterner with 1 carry for 1-yard, Daulton James with 4 carries for minus 1-yard, Mike Duffy with 1 carry for minus 3-yards, Wyatt Trostle with 2 carries for minus 4-yards, Jesse Good with 1 carry for minus 9-yards, and Zach Gross with 21 carries for minus 42-yards and 4 touchdowns. There was a team loss of 6-yards on 3 carries. There was a net of 456 carries for 2,785-yards and 37 rushing touchdowns for the season.

Besides Carnie Fryfogle’s 163 tackles for the season, other players with at least 50 tackles for the season were: Keith Pappas with 97, Mike Felton with 92, Reid Cruz with 69, Rich Delea with 64, Ryan Dotson with 57, Jeremy Loughlin and Zach Townsend with 52 each, and Chad Kolper with 51.

Chad Kolper led the team with 6 sacks on the season, followed by Jeremy Loughlin with 5, Ryan Dotson with 4, Zach Townsend with 3, Devon Ackerman, Carnie Fryfogle, and Brandon Stremmel with 2 sacks each, and Logan Bowman, Rich Delea, Reid Cruz, Dakotah Moses, Keith Pappas, and Aaron Utley with 1 sack each. There was a team total of 30 sacks for the season.

In addition to Gross’ passing statistics, Tyler Sterner completed 2 of 7 passes for 5-yards and Mike Duffy completed 2 of 5 passes for 27-yards. The team totaled 75 completions on 141 attempts for 1,106-yards and 12 touchdowns. The season reception leaders were Mike Felton with 22 for 409-yards and 6 touchdowns, followed by Keith Pappas with 10 for 155-yards and 1 touchdown, Jerome Robinson with 8 for 114-yards and 2 touchdowns, Reid Cruz with 7 for 105-yards and 1 touchdown, Carnie Fryfogle with 4 for 96-yards and 2 touchdowns, Brandon Krise with 7 for 51-yards, Jaelen Langenfeld with 3 for 49-yards, Dillon Thomas with 6 for 35-yards, Logan Bowman with 2 for 33-yards, Dakotah Moses with 3 for 28-yards, Daulton James with 1 for 18-yards, Ben Bynaker with 1 for 9-yards, and Brady Stevenson with 1 for 4-yards. That adds up to 75 receptions for 1,106-yards and 12 touchdowns for the season.

The 2011 Mustangs represented their school and league honorably, played hard, never gave up, and they were clearly a team to be remembered. They have a great nucleus of returning players from the junior varsity and solid players coming up within the ranks. I can’t wait for next season to begin. Until then, GO MUSTANGS GO.