SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2014-5

By Bill Engelhardt

________

Last Friday evening, September 19, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Colonials of New Oxford at the Mustang Corral in YAIAA Division II action and eked out a thrilling 34-27 victory.  The come from behind winning score came on a Brock Geiman 1-yard touchdown run with 13 seconds left in the game.

The Colonials opened the game by going three and out and punting.  The Mustangs then drove 14-yards in four plays, only to have Keegan Romanoff intercept a Geiman pass for the Colonials.  The Colonials took advantage of terrific field position and drove 26-yards in six plays, ending with Corban Czap’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Shane Rolle.  Trey Parrish kicked the extra point and the Colonials led7-0 at the 3:38 mark of the first quarter.

The Mustangs went three and out and punted.  The Colonials then drove 72-yards in ten plays, featuring a 24-yard run by Hunter Ringrose and ending with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Czap to Jordan Garner.  Nate VanCampen blocked the extra point kick and the Colonials upped the lead to 13-0 at the 9:44 mark of the second quarter.

The Mustangs then 80-yards in twelve plays, featuring a 12-yard pass from Geiman to Miles Francis, 13 and 10-yard runs by Miles Francis, a 12 and 10--yard runs by Robby Harbison, and a 12-yard pass from Geiman to Nate Staub.  Francis scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run and Andrew Slater kicked an extra point to make the score 13-7 with 3:44 to go in the first half.

The Mustangs opened the second half by punting after a long gain on a pass was negated by a penalty.  The Colonials from their own 45-yard line to the Mustangs 38-yard line, only to have Brady Thayer intercept a pass and return it 67-yards for a touchdown for the Mustangs.  Slater’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 14-13 at the 7:00 mark of the third quarter.

 The Colonials then went three and out and punted and the Mustangs drove 70-yards in six plays, featuring passes of 12 and 11-yards from Geiman to Staub, an 11-yard run by Hartlaub, and a 31-yard pass from Geiman to Hartlaub.  Francis scored a touchdown on a 4-yard run and the extra point was missed, putting the Mustangs up 20-13 at the 2:59 mark of the third quarter.

The Colonials ended up punting but the Mustangs muffed it and Daulton Snyder recovered for the Colonials at the Mustangs 38-yard line.  Despite the fact that the Mustangs’ Seth Janney recorded a sack for a 3-yard loss, the Colonials drove 38-yards in four plays, ending with 32-yard touchdown run by Keegan Romanoff.  Trey Parrish kicked the extra point and the game was tied at 20-20 with 11:04 left in the game.

The Mustangs then drove 64-yards in fur plays; an incomplete pass, a 13-yard run by Hartlaub, a 2-yard run by Harbison, and a 49-yard touchdown run by Hartlaub.  The extra point was missed and the Mustangs led 26-20 with 9:45 left in the game.

The Colonials then drove 65-yards in eleven plays, featuring a 16-yard pass from Czap to Snyder and ending with Czap’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Snyder.  Parrish kicked the extra point and the Colonials took the lead 27-26 with 4:25 left in the game.

Undaunted, the Mustangs then drove 75-yards in eleven plays, featuring a 32-yard pass from Geiman to Hartlaub with a 15-yard penalty tacked on to the end of the play.  Geiman scored a touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback keeper and then threw a 2-pont conversion pass to Corbin Byers with 13 seconds left in the game, making the final score 34-27 in favor of the Mustangs. 

Andrew Slater kicked off 4 times for 191-yards, with the longest going for 59-yards, and Brock Geiman punted 2 times for 71-yards (for an average of 35.5-yards) with the longest going for 37-yards.  Miles Francis returned 3 punt for 19-yards, with the longest going for 15-yards and 2 kickoffs for 23-yards, with the longest going for 15-yards.  Robby Harbison returned 1 kickoff for 10-yards, and Drew Hartlaub returned 1 kickoff for 7-yards, for the Mustangs.

Tyler Jachelski, with 10 tackles, led the Mustang defense, followed by Seth Janney with 8 tackles and 1 sack for a 3-yard loss, Ryan Krebs with 7 tackles and 1 interception, Gus Landis with 6 tackles, Tyler Fulmore, Drew Hartlaub, and Nate VanCampen with 5 tackles each, Brady Thayer with 4 tackles and 1 interception returned 67-yards for a touchdown, Luke Baugher with 4 tackles and 1 recovered fumble, Josh Zeroth with 4 tackles, Corbin Byers with 3 tackles and 2 pass hurries, Hunter Palmer with 3 tackles, Mike Farace and Bret Hertzog with 2 tackles each, and Miles Francis, Josh Martin, Jacob Muir, and Matt Smolko with 1 tackle each.

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

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

The Mustangs gained 194-yards rushing and 108-yards passing for a total of 302-yards of offense. Junior quarterback Brock Geiman completed 6 of 12 passes for the 108-yards, 2 for 63-yards to Drew Hartlaub, 3 for 33-yards to Noah Staub, and 1 for 12-yards to Miles Francis, for the Mustangs.  Hartlaub led the Mustangs rushing attack with13 carries for 100-yards (including a 49-yard touchdown), followed by Robby Harbison with 15 carries for 53-yards, Miles Francis with 7 carries for 40-yards (including touchdowns of 2 and 4-yards), and Geiman with 2 carries for 2-yards (including a 1-yard touchdown).

Geiman threw a 2-point conversion pass to Corbin Byers, Andrew Slater kicked 2 extra points, Brady Thayer intercepted a pass and returned it 67-yards for a touchdown and defended 2 passes, Ryan Krebs intercepted a pass, Luke Baugher recovered a fumble, Seth Janney recorded 1 sack for a 3-yard loss, and Byers recorded 2 pass hurries, for the Mustangs.

The Colonials gained 229-yards rushing and 52 yards passing for a total of 281-yards gained.  Quarterback Corban Czap completed 5 of 15 passes for the 53-yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 for 21-yards to Shane Rolle (including a 10-yard touchdown), 1 for 17-yards and a touchdown to Daulton Snyder, 1 for 13-yards and a touchdown to Jordan Gardner, and 1 for 2-yards to Elijah Myers, for the Colonials.  Hunter Ringrose led the Colonials rushing attack with 20 carries for 127-yards, followed by Keegan Romanoff with 5 carries for 44-yards (including a 32-yard touchdown), Daulton Snyder with 7 carries for 22-yards, Czap with 7 carries for 20-yards, Kevin Moser with 2 carries for 11-yards, Trevon Brown with 1 carry for 4-yards, and Elijah Myers with 2 carries for 1-yard.

Trey Parrish kicked 3 extra points, Romanoff intercepted a pass, and Snyder recovered a fumble, for the Colonials.

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 pre-game 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 New Oxford Colonial Marching Band gave a crowd-pleasing half time performance.

The 25 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad (24 girls and a guy) and the Colonials’ squad were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

The Mustangs of South Western are 1-3-0 overall and 1-0-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

The Mustangs have a career record of 342-212-8.  The results of the 562 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .617 winning percentage and a .623 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs visit the Panthers of Central York (1-3 overall, 1-0 league) in league action.  Central York is coming off of a 44-17 victory over the Bobcats of Northeastern.  The Mustangs are looking to remain on their winning tradition.  GO MUSTANGS GO.