SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2012-3

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Thursday evening, September 6, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Mid-Penn Keystone Division Colts of Cedar Cliff and were defeated 69-21. The passing of quarterback Andrew Ford for the Colts was virtually unstoppable, as he threw for 311-yards and 7 touchdowns. The valiant Mustangs never gave up and battled back but the Colts have at least 5 players who should go on to Division I college football and they were just too much for the Mustangs to overcome.

The Mustangs opened the game with a fumble on their 11-yard line the second play, recovered at the Colts by Josh Emond for the Colts. Ford immediately tossed a pass to Mike Viti to the 5 and then plunged in for a touchdown. The Mustangs went three and out and punted and the Colts returned the punt 23-yards and then drove 37-yards in three plays, ending with Ford’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Mike Viti. The score was 14-0 with 7:34 left in the first quarter. Three Ford touchdown passes later saw the score upped to 35-0 by the end of the first quarter.

The Mustangs finally got untracked late in the first quarter and drove 66-yards in 11 plays, featuring a 12-yard pass from Duffy to Zach Osborne and an 8-yard pass to Brady Shultz. Dillon Thomas scored on a 1-yard run and Jake Tracy’s extra point kick made the score 35-7 with 9:29 to go in the second quarter.

The Colts went 3 and out, including a sack by the Mustang’s Gabe Morela, and punted. The Mustangs took over at their own 43-yard line and Thomas galloped 57-yrds for a touchdown. Tracy’s extra point kick made the score 35-14 with 7:36 to go in the first half.

The Colts tacked on another touchdown on a 2-yard run by Xavier Baney and Leo Van Buskirk’s extra point kick (he had 7 for the day) made the score 42-14.

The Mustangs came right back again, with a 76-yard drive, featuring a 42-yard pass from Tyler Sterner to Zach Osborne. The drive ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Sterner to Osborne. Tracy’s extra point kick made the score 48-21 with 50 seconds left in the first half.

The Colts drove 56-yards in five plays, ending with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Ford to Nathan Orris as the time ran out in the half. Van Buskirk’s extra point kick upped the score to 48-21 at the half.

Ford tossed two more touchdown passes, both to Yousef Ajlane, and Noah Malone rushed for a 4-yard touchdown in the second half for the Colts. Van Buskirk added three more extra points and the final score was 69-21. The Mustangs substituted liberally, giving the backups some game experience.

Jake Tracy kicked off 3 times for 139-yards, with the longest going for 49-yards. Brandon Utz punted 3 times for 108-yards and a 46-yard average, with the longest going for 39-yards, and Gabe Morela punted 2 times for 62-yards and a 31-yard average, with the longest going for 36-yards. Jerome Robinson returned 3 kickoffs for 72-yards, with the longest going for 32-yards, for the Mustangs.

Eddie Lane, who had 6 tackles, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Robinson and Chris Weibe with 5 tackles each, Gustave Landis and Aram Moffitt with 4 tackles each, Matt Helwig, Tyler Jachelski, Tyler Kohler, Ryan Lane, and Payton Taylor with 3 tackles each, Gabe Morela with 2 tackles and a sack for a 3-yard loss, Jordan Markle, Hunter Palmer, Brady Shultz, and Dillon Thomas with 2 tackles each, and Devon Ackerman, Rich Bosse, Mike Duffy, Branden Fahs, Gunner Holtz, Alex Jones, Mike Mooradian, Ethan Paul, Shawn Secola, Jake Tracy, Wayne Trostle, and Josh Walker with 1 tackle each.

Devon Ackerman, Alex Jones, Matt Helwig, Gunner Holtz, Eddie Lane, Aram Moffitt, Mike Mooradian, Gabe Morela, Dakotah Moses, Shawn Secola, Brady Shultz, Dillon Thomas, and Chris Weibe, manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions, with help from Richard Bosse, Ryan Krebs, Ryan Lane, Ethan Paul, Josh Walker, Wayne Trostle, and Brandon Utz. Mike Duffy, Jordan Markle, Jerome Robinson, and Payton Taylor patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs, with help from Aaron Doll and Hunter Palmer.

The Mustangs gained 131-yards rushing and 133-yards passing for a total of 264-yards of offense. Quarterback Tyler Sterner completed 5 of 6 passes for 110-yards and 1 touchdown, 3 for 61-yards to Zach Osborne (including a 13-yard touchdown), 1 for 27-yards to Mike Mooradian, and 1 for 22-yards to Hunter Palmer, and quarterback Mike Duffy completed 3 of 7 passes for 23-yards, 1 for 12-yards to Zach Osborne, 1 for 8-yards to Brady Shultz, and 1 for 3-yards to Jerome Robinson, for the Mustangs.

Dillon Thomas led the Mustangs rushing attack with 14 carries for 117-yards (including touchdowns of 1 and 57-yards), followed by Shultz with 4 carries for 18-yards, Wyat Trostle with 1 carry for 8-yards, Camden Brown with 1 carry for 3-yards, Dakotah Moses with 1 carry for 2-yards, Bret Hertzog with 1 carry for 1-yard, Osborne with 1 carry for no yards, Payton Taylor with 1 carry for minus 4-yards, Duffy with 4 carries for minus 6-yards, and Sterner with 1 carry for minus 8-yards. Jake Tracy kicked 3 extra points and Gabe Morela recorded a sack for the Mustangs.

The Cedar Cliff Colts rang up 153-yards rushing and 322 yards passing for a total of 475 yards gained. Andrew Ford completed 19 of 24 passes for 311-yards and 7 touchdowns, 4 for 96-yards to Mike Viti (including a 32-yard touchdown), 5 for 95-yards to Yousef Ajlane (including touchdowns of 28 and 42-yards), 3 for 47-yards to Jacob Scott (including touchdowns of 12 and 10-yards), 2 for 41-yards to Nathan Orris (including touchdowns of 36 and 6-yards), 3 for 20-yards to Noah Malone, and 2 for 12-yards to Xavier Baney, and Noah Malone completed 1 pass for 11-yards to Derek Ford, for the Colts. Baney led the Colts rushing attack with 9 carries for 71-yards (including a 2-yard touchdown), followed by Malone with 5 carries for 33-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), Jordan Stiles with 6 carries for 22-yards, Ford with 6 carries for 19-yards (including a 5-yard touchdown), Bobby Palmer with 3 carries for 9-yards, and Zach Rush with 1 carry for minus 1-yard. Ford threw a 2-point conversion pass to Scott, Leo Van Buskirk kicked 7 extra points and 7 touchbacks on kickoffs, and Josh Emond and Orris each recovered a fumble, for the Colts.

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 2012 field show “Unity: A Natural Balance.” The show took us on a musical and visual exploration of the three natural forces among us: Water, Air and Land. The show opened with “Of Men and the Sea,” depicting the energetic role of water in our world. The raging water calmed us as we turned our eyes to the sky, then with a ballad highlighting the beauty and mystery of the night air and the “stars.”

The 24 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the 19 member Colts squad were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

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

The Mustangs have a career record of 338-207-8. The results of the 552 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .620 winning percentage and a .626 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs host the Rams of Central Dauphin. Central Dauphin opened the season with a 24-7 loss to the Shamrocks of Bishop McDevitt. The Mustangs are looking to resume their winning tradition. GO MUSTANGS GO.