SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2015-5

By Bill Engelhardt

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Last Friday evening, September 25, the Mustangs of South Western visited the Colonials of New Oxford in YAIAA Division II action and came away with a 21-6 victory.  Two touchdown passes by senior quarterback Brock Geiman put the Mustangs out front and his 1-yard touchdown plunge sealed the deal.

The Mustangs opened the game with a 30-yard kickoff return by Michael Johnson, Jr. to the 50-yard line.  The Mustangs drove to the Colonials 30-yard line, only to turn the ball over on downs.  Four plays later the Colonials attempted to punt and a bad snap sailed over the punter’s head and the resulting 31-yard loss set the Mustangs up on the Colonials 15-yard line.  On the next play Trevon Brown intercepted a Mustangs pass, giving the ball back to the Colonials at their 20-yard line.

The Colonials then drove 35-yards in seven plays and again attempted to punt.  Again the snap sailed over the punter’s head, and the resulting 26-yard loss set the Mustangs up on the Colonials 24-yard line.  Three plays later Geiman threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Staub and Wes Sneeringer’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 7-0 with 1:49 left in the first quarter.

Brown returned the Mustangs kickoff 25-yards to the Colonials 37-yard line.  The Colonials drove to the Mustangs 39-yard line in six plays, featuring a 17-yard run by Josh Shultz, only to turn the ball over on downs.  Two plays later the Colonials got the ball back when Ferrious Ashford intercepted a Mustangs pass and returned it 12-yards to the Mustangs 31-yard line.  Six plays later the Colonials turned the ball over on downs at the Mustangs 24-yard line.

The Mustangs then drove 51–yards in 13 plays, featuring a fake punt that the punter, Geiman, ran 6-yards for a first down, and turned the ball over in downs at the Colonials 25-yard line.

The Colonials went 3 and out and punted and DeSean Crump returned it 12-yards to the Colonials 27-yard line.  Then Geiman threw a picture perfect 27-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Green.  Sneeringer’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 14-0 with 22 seconds left in the first half.

The Colonials opened the second half with a nine play 60-yard drive, featuring a 13-yard run by Corban Czap and an 11-yard run by Josh Shultz.  The drive ended with a 5-yard touchdown plunge by Shultz.  The extra point was missed and the Mustangs still led 14-6 at the 7:49 mark of the third quarter.

The Mustangs and the Colonials then exchanged punts.  Then the Mustangs drove 56-yards in nine plays, featuring an 11-yard pass from Geiman to Staub and a 10-yard run by Crump.  The drive ended with Geiman’s 1-yard touchdown plunge.  The reliable Sneeringer kicked the extra point and the Mustangs increased their lead to 21-6, closing out the scoring with 9:08 left in the game.

Kaiden Gaylord recovered a Colonials fumble for the Mustangs at the Colonials 23-yard line.  The Mustangs suffered a 15-yard penalty and got back to the 28-yard line.  Sneeringer’s 45-yard field goal attempt failed.  That was only his first miss after kicking 12 extra points and 2 field goals for the season to date.  His successful field goals were for 34 and 26-yards.

Wes Sneeringer kicked off 4 times for 155-yards, for an average of 38.8-yards, with the longest going for 53-yards, and Brock Geiman punted 1 time for 33-yards.  Michael Johnson, Jr. returned 1 kickoff for 30-yards, DeSean Crump returned 1 kickoff for minus 9-yards and 1 punt for 12-yards, and Miles Francis returned 1 punt for 5-yards, for the Mustangs.

Skylar Bowman, with 9 tackles and 1 sack for a 4-yard loss, led the Mustang defense, followed by Corbin Byers with 7 tackles, 1 sack for a 4-yard loss, and 3 pass hurries, Mike Farace with 7 tackles, Nate VanCampen with 6 tackles and 1 pass defended, Zack Hughes, Quan Marshall, and Matt Smolko with 6 tackles each, Josh Zeroth with 4 tackles and 1 sack for a 2-yard loss, Miles Francis with 4 tackles and 1 pass defended, Bubba Carbaugh with 3 tackles, Noah Staub with 2 tackles, 1 interception with a 30-yard return, and 2 defended passes, Tyler Fulmore with 2 tackles and 1 pass hurry, Carson Perry with 1 tackle and 1 caused fumble, Michael Johnson, Jr., Chris Steckel, Cole Stremmel, and Nigel Williams with 1 tackle each, and Kaiden Gaylord with 1 recovered fumble.

Skylar Bowman, Corbin Byers, Bubba Carbaugh, Scotty Dickmyer, Mike Farace, Tyler Fulmore, Zach Hughes, Quan Marshall, Austin Reusing, Matt Smolko, Chris Steckel, and Josh Zeroth manned the offensive and defensive line and linebacker positions.

DeSean Crump, Miles Francis, Brock Geiman, Jeff Green, Noah Staub, and Nate VanCampen patrolled the secondary for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs gained 162-yards rushing and 70-yards passing for a total of 232-yards of offense. Senior quarterback Brock Geiman completed 5 of 15 passes for the 70-yards and 2 touchdowns, 2 for 31-yards to Noah Staub (including a 20-yard touchdown), 2 for 26-yards to Jeff Green (including a 27-yard touchdown), and 1 for 13-yards to Corbin Byers, for the Mustangs.  DeSean Crump led the Mustangs rushing attack with 7 carries for 47-yards, followed by Tyler Fulmore with 9 for 44, Green with 10 for 28, Zack Hughes with 4 for 23, Geiman with 5 for 18, Michael Johnson, Jr. with 1 for 2-yards, Jacob Muir with 1 for 1-yard, Nigel Williams with 2 carries for no yards, and a team loss of 1-yard.  Wes Sneeringer kicked 3 extra points, Staub intercepted a pass and returned it 30-yards and defended 2 passes, Kaiden Gaylord recovered a fumble, Carson Perry caused a fumble, Byers recorded a sack and 3 pass hurries, Skylar Bowman and Josh Zeroth each recorded a sack, Miles Francis and Nate VanCampen each defended a pass, and Fulmore recorded 1 pass hurry, for the Mustangs.

The Colonials gained 56-yards rushing and 66 yards passing for a total of 122-yards gained.  Quarterback Corban Czap completed 6 of 12 passes for the 66-yards, 5 for 57-yards to Trevon Brown and 1 for 9-yards to Bret Saveleski, for the Colonials.  Joshua Shultz led the Colonials rushing attack with 22 carries for 95-yards, followed by Brown with 1 for 12, Elijah Myers with 2 for 8-yards, Corban Czap with 13 carries for minus 1-yard, and Benjamin Rivera with 2 carries for minus 58-yards due to bad snaps on attempted punts.  Ferrious Ashford and Brown each intercepted a pass for the Colonials.

The10-time Cavalcade of Bands, 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 2015 field show “What If,” a musical and visual depiction of the process of implementing a change and making a difference.  The music is based on Michael Kamen’s “The New Moon in the Old Moon’s Arms.”  The show began with the inception of the idea or change, represented with the theme played by trumpet soloist Veronica Hurst.  Further numbers reflected the encountering of obstacles and challenges standing in the way of goals and a moment of reflection on the purpose and nature of change.  The closer continued to build upon the hope of this change and reached a climax where the change was successful.  The show ended with the fleeting sounds of the musical theme played by trumpet soloist John Dyson.

In a pregame performance, the 68 member Colonials Marching Band put on their field show “”Steam.”  The Middle School Band also put on a nice show.

The 21 member Mustangs Cheer Leading Squad and the Colonials Cheer Leading squad were both very impressive as they roused the faithful.

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

The Mustangs have a career record of 349-215-8.  The results of the 572 games played in the history of the South Western Mustangs are a career .619 winning percentage and a .624 non-losing percentage.

Next week the Mustangs host the Panthers of Central York (1-3 overall, 0-1 league) in league action.  Central York is coming off of a 42-0 shut out by the Bobcats of Northeastern.  The Mustangs are looking to remain on their winning tradition.  GO MUSTANGS GO.