SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2013-3

By Bill Engelhardt

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Last Friday evening, September 6, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Mid-Penn Keystone Division Colts of Cedar Cliff and were edged 30-27 in a thriller with the winning score coming with 43 seconds left in the game.  The Mustangs’ Dillon Thomas rushed for 164-yrds and a touchdown, and set a new school career record for rushing yards with 2,916-yards, passing Allen Bittinger’s record of 2,871-yards by 45-yards.  He still has the rest of this season to add to that record.

The Mustangs opened the game with Wyatt Trostle returning the kickoff for 23-yards to the Mustangs 39-yard line.  They drove 43-yards in seven plays, only to misfire on a 28-yard field goal attempt.

The Colts and the Mustangs then exchanged punts.  The Mustangs’ Ryan Krebs then intercepted a pass by Andrew Ford and returned it for 17-yards to the Colts’ 39-yard line.  Three plays later Tyler Sterner threw a 39-yard touchdown strike to Logan Bowman.  Brock Geiman’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 7-0 at the 1:13 mark in the first quarter.

The Colts then drove 77-yards in ten plays, featuring passes of 14 and 12-yards to Noah Malone, a 15-yard pass to Nathan Orris, and a 13-yard pass to Kyler Smith, all by Andrew Ford.  The drive ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Joshua Colelo and the extra point attempt was missed, leaving the Mustangs up 7-6.

The Mustangs and the Colts exchanged punts again and then the Mustangs drove 25-yards to their own 43-yard line and misfired on a fake punt attempt on 4th and 6.  The Colts then drove 25-yards and reliable kicker Leo Van Buskirk kicked a 30-yard field goal.  That put the Colts up 9-7 with 2:16 to go in the first half.

The opening drives of the Colts and the Mustangs in the second half ended with punts.  The Colts then drove 67-yards in five plays featuring a 30-yard run by Jayden Demmy, and ending with Demmy’s 15-yard touchdown run.  Van Buskirk’s extra point kick put the Colts up 16-7 at the 3:22 mark of the third quarter.

The Mustangs countered with a 68-yard, six play drive, featuring a 10-yard run by Camden Brown and a 21-yard run by Dillon Thomas.  The drive ended with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Sterner to Brandon McMinn.  The extra point attempt failed and the Colts were up 16-13 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Colts then drive 62-yards fie plays, featuring a 15-yard run by Demmy, a 36-yard pass from Ford to Jacob Scott, and a 6-yard touchdown pass from Ford to Mike Viti.  Van Buskirk’s extra point kick upped the score to 23-13 with 10:16 left in the game.

The Mustangs then punted, but got the ball right back when Dillon Thomas recovered a fumble.  The Mustangs then drove 55-yards in six plays, featuring a 16-yrd pass from Sterner to Brady Thayer and a 32-yard touchdown pass from Sterner to Noah Staub.  Geiman’s extra point kick left the Colts up 23-20 with 6:40 left in the game.

The Colts then punted and on the first play from scrimmage Dillon Thomas galloped 52-yards for a touchdown for the Mustangs.  Geiman’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 27-23 with 5:32 left in the game.

The Colts then drove 57-yards in eleven plays, featuring a 20-yard pass from Ford to Jacob Scott, and ending with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Ford to Kyler Smith.  Van Buskirk’s extra point kick made the final score 30-27 in favor of the Colts with 43 seconds left in the game.

Sophomore Brock Geiman kicked off 5 times for 207-yards, with the longest going for 51-yards, and punted 4 times for 137-yards (for an average of 34.25-yards) with the longest going for 43-yards.  Brady Thayer returned 1 punt for 12-yards.  Payton Taylor returned 3 kickoffs for 51-yards, Wyatt Trostle returned 1 kickoff for 23-yards, and Jonas Walter returned 1 kickoff for 16-yards, for the Mustangs.

Hunter Palmer, who had 11 tackles, led the Mustangs defense, followed by Logan Bowman and Ryan Krebs with 9 tackles each, Ryan Lane with 7 tackles, Payton Taylor with 6 tackles, Dillon Thomas with 4 tackles, Matt Helwig, Tyler Jachelski, and Brady Thayer with 3 tackles each, Gunner Holtz with 2 tackles and 4 pass hurries, Aaron Uttley with 2 tackles and 1 pass hurry, Josh Walker with 2 tackles, Skylar Bowman with 1 tackle and 1 pass hurry, and Steven Foster, Brandon McMinn, Gage Thomas, and Jonas Walter with 1 tackle each.

Rich Bosse, Skylar Bowman, Camden Brown, Matt Helwig, Domnick Holcombe, Gunner Holtz, Tyler Jachelski, Ryan Krebs, Gus Landis, Ryan Lane, Brandon McMinn, Elder Sterner, Dillon Thomas, Wyatt Trostle, Aaron Uttley, and Josh Walker, manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions.

Logan Bowman, Brenden Fahs, Hunter Palmer, Payton Taylor, and Brady Thayer patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 232-yards rushing and 112-yards passing for a total of 344-yards of offense. Quarterback Tyler Sterner completed 6 of 18 passes for the 112-yards and 3 touchdowns, 1 for 39-yards and a touchdown to Logan Bowman, 1 for 32-yards and a touchdown to Noah Staub, 1 for 20-yards to Camden Brown, 1 for 16-yards to Brady Thayer, 1for 4-yards and a touchdown to Brandon McMinn, and 1 for 1-yard to Dillon Thomas, for the Mustangs.

Thomas led the Mustangs rushing attack with 19 carries for 164-yards (including a 52-yard touchdown), followed by Brown with 13 carries for 89-yards, Wyatt Trostle with 3 carries for minus 2-yards, Brock Geiman with 1 carry for minus 5-yards, and Sterner with 2 carries for minus 14-yards.  Geiman kicked 3 extra points, Thomas recovered a fumble, and Ryan Krebs intercepted a pass and returned it 17-yards for the Mustangs.

The Cedar Cliff Colts rang up 134-yards rushing and 224 yards passing for a total of 358 yards gained.  Andrew Ford completed 23 of 36 passes for the 224-yards and 2 touchdowns, 4 for 71-yards to Nick Barowski, 6 for 70-yards to Jacob Scott, 4 for 32-yards to Kyler Smith (including a 5-yard touchdown), 3 for 27-yards to Noah Malone, 1 for 16-yards to Nathan Orris, 2 for 10-yards to Mike Viti (including a 6-yard touchdown), and 2 for 8-yards to Jayden Demmy, for the Colts.  Demmy led the Colts rushing attack with 13 carries for 129-yards (including a 15-yard touchdown), followed by Joshua Colelo with 5 for 7-yards (including a 2-yard touchdown), Smith with 1 for 5-yards, and Ford with 1 carry for minus 7-yards.  Leo Van Buskirk kicked a 30-yard field goal and 3 extra points for the Colts.

The 10-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 2013 field show “Joyful Beethoven.”  The Ode to Joy theme from the 9th Symphony is among the most recognizable melodies of all time.  Throughout the show this melody was combined, altered, and woven into many of Beethoven’s other compositions.  The show opened with a bold statement of the Ode to Joy theme that transitioned into the main theme from the fifth Symphony, featuring a horn trio of Amanda Smith, Nicia Werner, and Briannah Rohrbaugh.  Following a brief interlude of the Ode to Joy, the passion of the Egmont Overture was heard.  The music evolved from passion to triumph as the band segued into the Overture from Fidelio.

The 27 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the 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 339-203-8.  The results of the 550 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .625 winning percentage and a .631 non-losing percentage. 

Next week the Mustangs visit the  Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division’s Rams of Central Dauphin.  Central Dauphin suffered a 34-14 loss to the Crusaders of Bishop McDevitt this week.  The Mustangs are looking to resume their winning tradition.  GO MUSTANGS GO.