SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2012-6

By Bill Engelhardt
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Last Friday evening, September 28, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the YAIAA Division II Warriors of Susquehannock at the Mustang Corral and galloped to a convincing 41-6 victory. Three quarterbacks, five receivers, and 10 running backs shared the offensive spotlight.

The Mustangs opened the game with a six-play drive that ended with a punt. The Warriors returned the favor with a three and out and punt.

The Mustangs then drove 37-yards in four plays, featuring a 29-yard pass from Mike Duffy to Gabe Morela to the 2-yard line. Duffy plunged in for the touchdown and Jake Tracy’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 7-0 with 5:51 left in the first quarter.

The Warriors went three and out and punted again and the Mustangs drove 47-yards in four plays; a 20-yard pass from Duffy to Dillon Thomas, a 3-yard run by Brady Shultz, a 15-yrd run by Thomas, and a 9-yard touchdown run by Shultz. Tracy’s extra point kick made the score 14-0 with 2:41 left in the first quarter.

The Warriors went three and out and punted again and the Mustangs drove 66-yards in ten plays, featuring a 17-yard run by Thomas and a 17-yard run by Payton Taylor. Taylor plunged in from the 2-yard line and Tracy’s extra point kick upped the score to 21-0 with 10:14 to go in the second quarter.

The Warriors and the Mustangs exchanged punts, including one that Jerome Robinson returned for 32-yards, and the Mustangs turned the ball over on downs, but the first half ended with no more scoring.

The Warriors opened the second half with a six play drive, featuring an 11-yard pass from Bryan Kerr to Steven Nalls, but had to punt. The Mustangs then drove 58-yards in 9 plays, only to have Nalls intercept a pass for the Warriors at their 3-yard line. The Warriors went three and out and punted.

The Mustangs drove 41-yards in six plays, featuring a 19-yard run by Thomas and a 16-yard run by Dakotah Moses. Thomas ran in for a 13-yard touchdown and Tracy’s extra point kick upped the score to 28-0 with 1:36 to go in the third quarter.

The Warriors then put on their only sustained drive of the game, a 66-yard, nine play drive that featured 5 passes from Kerr; for a yard loss to Luke Knott, for 24-yards to Sam P. Miller, for 12-yards to Nalls, for 27-yards to Nalls, and for 6-yards and a touchdown to Kenyon Weber. The extra point attempt failed and the score went to 28-6 with 11:40 left in the game.

The Mustangs then drove 64-yards in five plays, featuring a 40-yard run by Thomas. Tyler Sterner plunged in from the 1-yard line and Tracy’s extra point kick upped the score to 35-6 with 10:03 left in the game.

The Warriors ended up punting again and the Mustangs drive 55-yards in four plays, featuring an 18-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Lane to Brandon McMinn. Camden Brown ended the drive with a beautiful 34-yard touchdown jaunt and the extra point attempt failed, making the final score 41-6 with 6:58 left in the game.

Jake Tracy kicked off 6 times for 309-yards, with the longest going for 56-yards, and Tyler Kohler kicked off 1 time for 41-yards. Jerome Robinson returned 3 punts for 47-yards, with the longest going for 32-yards, for the Mustangs. Brandon Utz punted 2 times for 68-yards, with the longest going for 42-yards, and Mike Harris punted 1 time for 15-yards, for the Mustangs.

Aram Moffit, with 5 tackles, a sack, and a pass hurry, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Eddie Layne with 5 tackles and a sack, Devon Ackerman with 5 tackles, Chris Weibe with 4 tackles, a sack, and a pass hurry, Brady Shultz with 4 tackles and 2 pass hurries, Gunner Holtz and Jordan Markle with 4 tackles each, Mike Duffy, Alex Jones, Dakotah Moses, Logan Neiderer, Hunter Palmer, and Josh Walker with 2 tackles each, Aaron Uttley with 1 tackle and 1 pass hurry, and Joe Bond, Rich Bosse, Matt Helwig, Tyler Jachelski, Doug Krout, Brandon McMinn, Mike Mooradian, Jerome Robinson, and Wyat Trostle 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, Aaron Uttley, and Chris Weibe, manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions, with help from Rich 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 360-yards rushing and 90-yards passing for a total of 450-yards of offense. Quarterback Mike Duffy completed 5 of 9 passes for 69-yards, quarterback Tyler Sterner completed 1 of 5 passes for 3-yards, and quarterback Ryan Lane completed 1 pass for 18-yards, for the Mustangs. Gabe Morela caught 1 pass for 29-yards, Dillon Thomas caught 2 passes for 27-yards, Brandon McMinn caught 1 pass for 18-yards, Dakotah Moses caught 2 passes for 10-yards, and Zach Osborne caught 1 pass for 6-yards, for the Mustangs.

Dillon Thomas led the Mustangs rushing attack with 20 carries for 187-yards (including a 13-yard touchdown), followed by Camden Brown with 6 carries for 64-yards (including a 34-yard touchdown), Payton Taylor with 5 carries for 44-yards (including a 2-yard touchdown), Dakotah Moses with 4 carries for 29-yards, Brady Shultz with 5 carries for 18-yards (including a 9-yard touchdown), Wyat Trostle with 3 carries for 7-yards, Mike Duffy with 2 carries for 4-yards (including a 2-yard touchdown), Zach Osborne with 2 carries for 4-yards, Bret Hertzog with 1 carry for 2-yards, and Tyler Sterner with 1 carry for 1-yard and a touchdown. Jake Tracy kicked 5 extra points, Aram Moffitt and Chris Weibe each recorded a sack and a pass hurry, Eddie Layne recorded a sack, Brady Shultz recorded 2 pass hurries, and Aaron Uttley recorded 1 pass hurry, for the Mustangs.

The Warriors gained 38-yards rushing and 88 yards passing for a total of 126 yards gained. Quarterback Bryan Kerr completed 8 of 21 passes for 88-yards and 1 touchdown, 4 for 51-yards to Steven Nalls, 2 for 32-yards to Sammy P. Miller, 1 for 6-yards and a touchdown to Kenyon Weber, and 1 for minis 1-yard to Luke Knott, for the Warriors. Mike Costa led the Warriors rushing attack with 6 carries for 31-yards, followed by Chandler Larkin with 5 carries for 10-yards, Knott with 1 carry for 3-yards, Kerr with 7 carries for minus 3-yards, and Weber with 4 carries for minus 3-yards.

The 9-time Cavalcade of Bands Champions, Tournament of Bands Group IV Champion and US Scholastic Band Champion 59 member strong South Western Mustangs Marching Band put on a stirring post game 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 80 member Warriors Marching Band put on a stirring half time show entitled “Tribal Power.”

The 23 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Warriors 13 member squad were very impressive as they roused the faithful. For this Homecoming Game, the Mustangs cheerleading squad included the JV and Middle School groups for the second half, some 43 members strong in total.

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

The Mustangs have a career record of 340-208-8. The results of the 556 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 visit the Wildcats of Dallastown (2-3 overall, 0-0 league). Dallastown is coming off of a 21-7 win over the Colonials of New Oxford. The Mustangs are looking to continue their winning tradition. GO MUSTANGS GO.