SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON 2015-10

By Bill Engelhardt

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Last Friday evening, October 30, the Mustangs of South Western hosted the Bobcats of Northeastern and rode the passing arm of Brock Geiman to a 24-7 victory.  The Mustangs are in the hunt for a share of the league crown, needing a victory over the Rockets of Spring Grove next week coupled with a Dallastown Wildcats loss to the Lions of Red Lion to share the crown with the Wildcats.

The Mustangs are currently ranked number 10 for District 3 Class AAAA playoff consideration.  The top 16 teams qualify for the playoffs, with the top 8 getting a home game against a team from the bottom 8 in the first round.  If the rankings remain as they are now the Mustangs would visit the 7th ranked Blue Streaks of Manheim Township in the first round of the playoffs.

The Mustangs opened the game with a 15-play drive that ate up 6:82 on the clock.  The drive featured a punt attempt on a 4th down that involved a bad snap and senior quarterback Brock Geiman, also the punter, alertly threw a 19-yard pass to Corbin Byers for a first down.  The drive ended with Geiman’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Byers.  Wes Sneeringer’s extra point put the Mustangs up 7-0 at the 5:18 mark of the first quarter.

The Bobcats went three and out and attempted to punt but a bad snap ended up with the Mustangs having the ball at the Bobcats 38-yard line.  Seven plays later Geiman threw a beautiful 19-yard touchdown pass to Miles Francis.  Sneeringer’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 14-0 with 1:36 left in the first quarter.

The Bobcats ended up punting again and the Mustangs drove 58-yards, from their own 30-yard line to the Bobcats 12-yard line, in nine plays.  The drive featured a 15-yard run by Jeff Green and a 9-yard run by Jacob Muir, and ended with Sneeringer’s 30-yard field goal.  The Mustangs led 17-0 at the 8:28 mark of the second quarter.

The Bobcats retaliated on the next play as Taemar Willis returned the Mustangs kickoff 92-yards for a touchdown.  Cameron Artman’s extra point kick made the score17-7 in favor of the Mustangs at the 8:14 mark of the second quarter.

The Mustangs and the Bobcats then exchanged punts and the first half ended with no further scoring.

The Bobcats opened the second half with a five play drive and punted.  The Mustangs then drove 64-yards in six plays, featuring a 22-yard run by Mike Johnson, and ending with a picture perfect 46-yard touchdown pass from Geiman to Francis.  Sneeringer’s extra point kick put the Mustangs up 24-7 at the 6:41 mark of the third quarter.

The Bobcats next drive ended when Bubba Carbaugh recovered a fumble for the Mustangs.  Skylar Bowman thwarted another Bobcats drive with a sack for a 9-yard loss.  The Mustangs turned the ball over on downs at the Bobcats 25-yard line with 51 seconds left in the game.

Wes Sneeringer kicked off 3 times for 134-yards, for an average of 44.7-yards, with the longest going for 52-yards.  Brock Geiman punted 4 times for 121-yards for an average of 30.3-yards, with the longest going for 38-yards.  Miles Francis returned 2 kickoffs for 50-yards, with the longest going for 33-yards, and 1 punt for 8-yards, for the Mustangs.

Corbin Byers, with 5 tackles and 4 pass hurries, led the Mustang defense, followed by Mike Farace and Matt Smolko with 5 tackles each, Tyler Fulmore with 4 tackles and 1 pass defended, Josh Zeroth with 4 tackles and 1 pass hurry, Skylar Bowman with 3 tackles, a sack for a 9-yard loss, and 3 pass hurries, Zack Hughes with 3 tackles and 1 pass defended, Carson Perry and Quan Marshall with 3 tackles each, Bubba Carbaugh with 2 tackles 1 recovered fumble, and 1 pass hurry, Kaiden Gaylord and Nate VanCampen with 2 tackles each, and Miles Francis, Chris Ginevra, Josh Higdon, Mike Johnson, Noah Langenfeld, and Noah Staub with 1 tackle each.

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

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

The Mustangs gained 169-yards rushing and 134-yards passing for a total of 303-yards of offense.  Senior quarterback Brock Geiman completed 10 of 17 passes for the 134-yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 for 65-yards to Miles Francis, (including touchdowns of 19 and 46-yards), 2 for 26-yards to Corbin Byers, (including an 8-yard touchdown), 2 for 25-yards to Noah Staub, 2 for 10-yards to Zack Hughes, and 2 for 8-yards to Jeff Green, for the Mustangs.  Geiman has completed 79 of 155 passes for 1,237-yards and 17 touchdowns for the season.  Robby Harbison led the Mustangs rushing attack with 12 carries for 49-yards, followed by Hughes with 11 for 33-yards, Green with 6 for 33-yards, Mike Johnson with 6 for 26-yards, Geiman with 4 for 14-yards, Francis with 3 for 8-yards, Jacob Muir with 3 for 7-yards, and Kyle Davis with 1 carry for minus 1-yard.  Wes Sneeringer kicked 3 extra points, Bubba Carbaugh recovered a fumble and recorded a pass hurry, Skylar Bowman recorded a sack for a loss of 9-yards and 3 pass hurries, Byers recorded 4 pass hurries, Hughes and Tyler Fulmore each defended a pass, and Josh Zeroth recorded a pass hurry, for the Mustangs.

The Bobcats gained 112-yards rushing and 9 yards passing for a total of 121 yards gained.  Running back Kody Reeser, filling in at quarterback with all of the quarterbacks out of action, completed 1 of 11 passes to Jordan Zirkle for the 9-yards for the Bobcats.  Reeser led the Bobcats rushing attack with 13 carries for 62-yards, followed by Anu Johnson with 8 carries for 40-yards, and Chris Whack with 4 carries for 10-yards.  Taemar Willis returned a kickoff 92-yards for a touchdown, Cameron Artman kicked 1 extra point, Zach Williams defended 2 passes, and Michael Cooper and Gary Gobernik each caused a fumble, for the Bobcats.

The 10-time Cavalcade of Bands, Tournament of Bands Group IV Champion and US Scholastic Band Champion South Western Mustangs Marching Band put on a stirring post game 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.

The 56-member Northeastern Bobcats Marching Band gave a crowd-pleasing half time performance of its show “The American West,” featuring “The Magnificent Seven,” “Blazing Saddles,” “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” “The Horse,” “Desperado,” “Hoe Down from Rodeo,” and “How the West Was Won.”

The 24 member strong Mustangs Cheer Leading squad and the Bobcats’ squad were very impressive as they roused the faithful.

The Mustangs of South Western are 7-2-0 overall and 5-1-0 in York Adams Interscholastic Athletic Association (YAIAA) Division I league play.

The Mustangs have a career record of 353-216-8.  The results of the 577 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 Rockets of Spring Grove (4-5 overall, 3-3 league).  Spring Grove is coming off of a 28-14 loss to the Lions of Red Lion.  The Mustangs are looking to remain on the winning track.  GO MUSTANGS GO.