SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2014-3

By Bill Engelhardt

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Last Friday evening, September 5, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Mid-Penn Keystone Division Colts of Cedar Cliff and were out scored 55-33.  A very bright spot for the Mustangs was Drew Hartlaub’s two kickoff returns for touchdowns, for 92 and 95-yards.  This sophomore sensation also ran one back last week so has three in two games. He also led the team in rushing, caught a touchdown pass, and defended 2 passes this week.

The Mustangs opened the game with a seven-play 74-yard touchdown drive, featuring a 24-yard run by Hartlaub and ending with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Brock Geiman to Hartlaub.  Andrew Slater’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 7-0 with 9:40 left in the first quarter.

The Colts and the Mustangs then traded possessions and then the Colts drove 53-yards in six plays, featuring a 20-yard pass from Grant Brenneman to Mike Viti and ending with a 7-yard touchdown run by Jayden Demmy.  Matt Helwig blocked the extra point and the Mustangs still led 7-6 with 2:25 left in the first quarter.

The Mustangs went three and out and punted and the Colts drove 37-yrds in eight plays and Demmy scored his second touchdown on a 6-yard run.  Noah Malone’s extra point kick put the Colts up 13-7 at the 9:30 mark of the second quarter.

Hartman then returned the kickoff 92-yards for a touchdown and Slater’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 14-13 at the 9:12 mark.

The Colt had a drive seemingly end with a punt only to have the Mustangs muff the punt and give them the ball back at the Mustangs 34-yard line.  Four plays later Brenneman threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Charles Ghiazza and Malone’s extra point kick put the Colts up 20-14 at the 6:20 mark of the second quarter.

The Colts opened the second half with an 80-yard drive, featuring a 40-yard pass from Brenneman to Malone and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Brenneman to Malone.  Malone’s extra point kick upped the score to 27-14 in favor of the Colts at the 9:49 mark of the third quarter.

The Mustangs punted and the Colts drove 69-yrds in three plays, featuring a 48-yard pass from Brenneman to John McGee and ending with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Brenneman to Jordan Styles.  Malone’s extra point kick put the Colts up 33-14 at the 7:07 mark of the third quarter.

A quick kick was recovered by the Colts but they ended up punting.  The Mustangs drove 21-yards in five plays and attempted a fake punt that failed to gain a first down and the Colts took over on the Mustangs 25-yard line.  Six plays later Demmy scored his third touchdown on a 1-yard run.  Malone’s extra point kick put the Colts up 41-14 with 1:27 left in the third quarter.

The Mustangs responded with a five play 80-yard drive, featuring a 30-yard pass from Geiman to Hartlaub and a 20-yard run by Hartlaub.  Geiman threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Miles Francis and the extra point kick by Slater made the score 41-20 as the third quarter ended.

The Colts then drove 80-yards in three plays, a 10-yardrun by John McGee, a 10-yard run by Demmy, and a 60-yard touchdown run by McGee.  Malone’s extra point kick upped the score to 48-20 with 10:43 left in the game.

The undaunted Mustangs struck back immediately as Hartman returned the kickoff 95-yards for a touchdown.  The extra point attempt failed and the Colts were still up 48-26.

The Colts then drove 69-yards in seven plays, featuring runs of 15, 10, and 10-yards by Demmy and ending with his 10-yard touchdown run for his fourth of the night.  Malone’s extra point kick made the score 55-26 with 6:45 left in the game.

The Mustangs then drove 68-yards in seven plays, featuring a 13-yard run by Robby Harbison, a 15-yard pass from Geiman to Zach Hughes, and a 23-yard run by Harbison.  Geiman threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Noah Staub.  Slater’s extra point kick closed out the scoring at 55-33 in favor of the Colts with 3:33 left in the game.

Andrew Slater kicked off 6 times for 299-yards, with one touchback, and Brock Geiman punted 4 times for 174-yards (for an average of 43.5-yards) with the longest going for 57-yards.  Miles Francis returned 1 punt for 4-yards.  Drew Hartlaub returned 3 kickoffs for 172-yards (for an average of 364yards), with the longest going for 95-yards and a touchdown, to go along with his 92-yard touchdown return, Zack Hughes returned 1 kickoff for 9-yards, and Francis returned 1 kickoff for minus 3-yards, for the Mustangs.

Ryan Krebs, with 10 tackles, led the Mustang defense, followed by Bret Hertzog with 9 tackles, Miles Francis with 8 tackles, Tyler Jachelski with 7 tackles, Seth Janney and Chris Steckel with 4 tackles each, Jeff Green, Marcus Jones, Josh Martin, and Hunter Palmer with 3 tackles each, Corbin Byers, Mike Farace, Chris Ginerva, Zach Hughes, and Matt Smolko with 2 tackles each, Tyler Fulmore with 1 tackle for a sack for an 8-yard loss, Drew Hartlaub with 1 tackle and 2 pass defenses, Luke Baugher with 1 tackle and a caused fumble, Skylar Bowman, Robby Harbison, Carson Perry, Evan Raubenstine, Austin Reusing, Nate VanCampen, and Josh Zeroth with 1 tackle each, and Matt Helwig with a blocked extra point attempt.

Luke Baugher, Skylar Bowman, Corbin Byers, Scotty Dickmyer, Mike Farace, Miles Francis, Tyler Fulmore, Matt Helwig, Bret Hertzog, Tyler Jachelski, Marcus Jones, Seth Janney, Josh Martin, Matt Smolko, Chris Steckel, and Josh Zeroth manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions.

Drew Hartlaub, Zach Hughes, Ryan Krebs, Hunter Palmer, and Brady Thayer patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 81-yards rushing and 180-yards passing for a total of 261-yards of offense. Junior quarterback Brock Geiman completed 13 of 17 passes for the 180-yards and 3 touchdowns, 3 for 84-yards to Drew Hartlaub (including a 32-yard touchdown), 4 for 43-yards to Noah Staub (including a 13-yard touchdown), 1 for 15-yards to Zach Hughes, 2 for 14-yards to Miles Francis (including a 9-yard touchdown), 1 for 10-yards to Robby Harbison, 1 for 8-yards to Brady Thayer, and 1 for 6-yards to Bret Hertzog, for the Mustangs.  Hartlaub led the Mustangs rushing attack with 5 carries for 62-yards, followed by Harbison with 11 for 46, Miles Francis with 1 carry for 2-yards, Hughes with 5 carries for minus 8-yards, and Geiman with 5 carries for minus 21-yards.

Hartlaub returned a kickoff 92-yards for a touchdown and another for 95-yards and a touchdown, Andrew Slater kicked 3 extra points, Matt Helwig blocked an extra point attempt, Hartlaub defended 2 passes, and Luke Baugher caused a fumble, for the Mustangs.

The Cedar Cliff Colts rang up 267-yards rushing and 256 yards passing for a total of 523 yards gained.  Sophomore quarterback Grant Brenneman completed 216 of 20 passes for the 256-yards and 3 touchdowns, 4 for 97-yards to Noah Malone (including a 40-yard touchdown), 2 for 56-yards to John McGee, 4 for 35-yards to Mike Viti, 1 for 29-yards and a touchdown to Charles Ghiazza, 3 for 20-yards to Jordan Styles (including a 4-yard touchdown), 1 for 10-yards to Ryan Schoppert, and 1 for 9-yards to Cole Whalen, for the Colts.

Jayden Demmy led the Colts rushing attack with 26 carries for 157-yards (including 4 touchdowns, for 7, 6, 1, and 10-yards), followed by McGee with 2 for 70-yards (including a 60-yard touchdown), Patrick Duggan with 5 for 30-yards, and Brenneman with 8 carries for 10-yards.  Malone kicked 7 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 2014 field show “Nevermore,” based on “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe.  The show opened with the Overture from “Sweeney Todd” by Stephen Sondheim.  Mozart’s 25th Symphony provided the musical material for the first impact before melding into a minor treatment of the “Johanna” theme.  The madness continued with a return to the Overture that dissolved into a final solution.  The Cedar Cliff Colts Marching Band gave a crowd-pleasing performance at halftime.

The 27 member Mustangs Cheer Leading Squad (26 girls and a guy) and the Colts Cheer Leading squad were both very impressive as they roused the faithful.

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

The Mustangs have a career record of 341-211-8.  The results of the 560 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .618 winning percentage and a .623 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs visit the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division’s Thundering Herd of Carlisle (1-1 overall, 0-0 league).  Carlisle suffered a 19-18 loss to the Patriots of Red Land this week.  The Mustangs are still looking to resume their winning tradition.  GO MUSTANGS GO.