SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2012-5

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 21, the Mustangs of South Western visited the YAIAA Division II Colonials of New Oxford and galloped and passed to a 52-0 shutout. Three quarterbacks, five receivers, and 12 running backs shared the offensive spotlight.

The Mustangs opened the game with a 77-yard, seven play drive, featuring an 18-yard run by Dillon Thomas. Mike Duffy threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Brady Shultz and the Mustangs led 6-0 with 9:30 left in the first quarter.

The Colonials ran off three plays and faked a punt and Aaron Zimmerman ran for a first down but a penalty negated the play. The Colonials then punted and The Mustangs drove 53-yards in six plays, featuring a 15-yard run by Payton Taylor and a 12-yard run by Thomas. Dakotah Moses plunged in for a 4-yard touchdown and Jake Tracy’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 13-0 with 5:38 left in the first quarter.

The Colonials punted again and the Mustangs drove 51-yards in eleven plays, featuring a 9-yard pass from Duffy to Dillon and a 7-yard run by Zach Osborne. The drive ended with Dillon’s 14-yard touchdown run, making the score 19-0 with 11:27 left in the second quarter.

The Colonials then drove 39-yards in nine plays, featuring a 23-yard run for a first down on a fake punt play by Zimmerman, only to turn the ball over on downs. The Mustangs then drove 60-yards, only to lose the ball on a fumble recovered by the Colonials at their 3-yard line. The Colonials punted and the Mustangs drove 23-yards in two plays, only to lose the ball on a fumble recovered by the Colonials at their 1-yard line. The Colonials ended up quick kicking on third down and the Mustangs drove 25-yards in five plays, featuring a 25-yard run by Thomas, only to miss on a 28-yard field goal attempt. Thus ended the first half.

The Colonials opened the second half by throwing an interception to Ryan Krebs on their first play. The Mustangs then drove 37-yards in three plays, featuring a 31-yard pass from Tyler Sterner to Hunter Palmer. The drive ended with Moses fumbling into the end zone from just outside the goal line and Jordan Markle recovering it for a Mustangs touchdown. The Mustangs were up 25-0 with 10:47 left in the third quarter.

The Colonials then drove 34-yards in five plays, only to have Payton Taylor intercept a pass and return it 57-yards for a touchdown for the Mustangs. Tracy’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 32-0 with 8:53 to go in the third quarter.

The Colonials fumbled the kickoff and Palmer recovered it for the Mustangs, who then drove 28-yards in seven plays. A penalty had set the Mustangs back to the 43-yard line and they punted but a roughing the kicker penalty on the play gave them new life on the 20. Thomas then rushed to the 10, then to the 2, then in for a touchdown. Tracy’s extra point kick upped the score to 39-0 and invoked the mercy rule with 6:29 left in the third quarter.

The Colonials punted again and the Mustangs drove 67-yards in twelve plays, featuring two 10-yard runs by Wyat Trostle and a 10-yard run by Camden Brown. Ryan Lane, now in at quarterback, plunged in from the 5-yard line for a touchdown and Tracy’s extra point kick upped the score to 46-0 with 8:03 left in the game.

The Colonials punted again and the Mustangs drove 50-yards in three plays, a 3-yard run by Brown, a 2-yard run by Matt Shanks and, on a 3rd and 5, a 45-yard touchdown pass from Lane to Branden Fahs. That closed out the scoring at 52-0 with 3:37 left in the game.

The Colonials fumbled on their next possession and Josh Walker recovered for the Mustangs. The Mustangs then took a knee a couple of times to run out the clock.

The Mustangs substituted liberally, giving the backups some game experience, in the second half.

Jake Tracy kicked off 7 times for 327-yards, with the longest going for 55-yards, and Ryan Krebs kicked off 2 times for 80-yrds, with the longest going for 40-yards. Jerome Robinson returned 2 punts for 21-yards for the Mustangs. The Mustangs never punted and the only kickoff they faced was a touchback.

Chris Weibe, with 6 tackles and a pass defense, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Eddie Lane with 6 tackles, Gunner Holtz with 4 tackles, a sack, a pass hurry, and a caused fumble, Payton Taylor with 4 tackles and 2 pass defenses, Aaron Utley with 3 tackles, Josh Walker with 2 tackles and a fumble recovery, Aaron Doll, Ryan Hauf, Ryan Krebs, and Dillon Thomas with 2 tackles each, Zach Nixon with 1 tackle and a caused fumble, Devon Ackerman, Alex Jones, Ryan Lane, Jordan Markle, Aram Moffitt, and Gabe Morela, with 1 tackle each, Matt Helwig with a pass hurry, and Jerome Robinson with a pass defense.

Devon Ackerman, Alex Jones, Matt Helwig, Gunner Holtz, Eddie Lane, Aram Moffitt, Mike Mooradian, Gabe Morela, Dakotah Moses, Shawn Secola, Brady Shultz, Dillon Thomas, Aaron Uttley, and Chris Weibe, manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions, with help from 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 357-yards rushing and 123-yards passing for a total of 480-yards of offense. Quarterback Mike Duffy completed 3 of 11 passes for 47-yards and 1 touchdown, quarterback Tyler Sterner completed 1 of 2 passes for 31-yards, and quarterback Ryan Lane completed 1 pass for 45-yards and a touchdown, for the Mustangs. Branden Fahs caught 1 pass for 45-yards and a touchdown from Lane, Brady Shultz caught 1 pass for 31-yards and a touchdown from Duffy, Hunter Palmer caught 1 pass for 31-yards, Dillon Thomas caught 1 pass for 9-yards, and Dakotah Moses caught 1 pass for 7-yards, for the Mustangs.

Dillon Thomas led the Mustangs rushing attack with 17 carries for 141-yards (including touchdowns of 14 and 2-yards), followed by Zach Osborne with 5 carries for 43-yards, Camden Brown with 6 carries for 31-yards, Dakotah Moses with 7 carries for 28-yards (including a 4-yard touchdown), Wyat Trostle with 4 carries for 31-yards, Mike Duffy with 3 carries for 27-yards, Payton Taylor with 3 carries for 22-yards, Brady Shultz with 3 carries for 19-yards, Matt Shanks with 2 carries for 10-yards, Ryan Lane with 1carry for 6-yards and a touchdown, and Bret Hertzog with 1 carry for 1-yard. Payton Taylor returned an interception 57-yards for a touchdown, Jake Tracy kicked 4 extra points, Moses fumbled near the goal line and Jordan Markle recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown, Ryan Krebs intercepted a pass, Hunter Palmer and Josh Walker each recovered a fumble, Gunner Holtz recorded a sack and a pass hurry, and Matt Helwig recorded a pass hurry, for the Mustangs.

The Colonials gained 80-yards rushing and 11 yards passing for a total of 91 yards gained. Quarterback Anthony Lippy was 0 for 8 in the passing department and backup quarterback Jordan Gardner completed 1 of 3 passes for 11-yards to Matt Staub for the Colonials. Wesley Beans led the Colonials rushing attack with 7 carries for 49-yards, followed by Aaron Zimmerman with 1 carry for 23-yards, Nick Slusser with 8 carries for 10-yards, Anthony Lippy with 3 carries for 6-yards, John Wallace with 1 carry for 5-yards, Matt Staub with 1 carry for minus 5-yards, and Corey Gartrell with 2 carries for minus 8-yards.

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 show closed with the exotic sounds of the land in “Puma.”

The 23 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Colonials squad were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

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

The Mustangs have a career record of 339-208-8. The results of the 555 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 host the YAIAA Division II Warriors of Susquehannock (0-4 overall, 0-0 league). Susquehannock is coming off of a 43-0 loss to the Panthers of Central York. The Mustangs are looking to continue their winning tradition. GO MUSTANGS GO.