South Western capitalizes on New Oxford's punting troubles

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New Oxford had loads of trouble with the long snap on punts Friday night against South Western, zipping two of them over the head of the punter in the first half.

When the Colonials finally did get a punt off in the second quarter, the visiting Mustangs took all of one play to make it moot.

South Western quarterback Brock Geiman took advantage of the short field, throwing a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Green with 22 seconds until halftime. That gave the Mustangs a two-score lead that they would finish the game with, winning 21-6 on New Oxford's home field in the YAIAA Division I opener for both schools.

"He's a tough kid," South Western coach Damian Poalucci said of Geiman. "I expect a lot from him, and he knows that."

The Mustangs (3-1, 1-0 Division I) already had a 7-0 lead thanks to a clutch third-down play with 1:49 to go in the first quarter. That drive began after a long snap went over Colonial punter Benjamin Rivera's head, resulting in a 27-yard loss, and South Western was in business at the New Oxford 23-yard line. Three plays later, Geiman tossed a 21-yard pass to Noah Staub for the 7-0 advantage.

New Oxford (1-3, 0-1) botched another punt snap before Rivera, backed up to his own 14 in the final minute of the half, got off a 25-yard punt. DeSean Crump returned it 12 yards, and Geiman rolled left and threw right on the next play, locating Green for the TD strike.

"We threw a little reverse pass," Poalucci said. "I had called the wrong formation, but the kids did a great job of running the right play. I give the kids a lot of credit on that."

New Oxford closed to within 14-6 on the opening drive of the third quarter. Running back Joshua Shultz capped off a nine-play, 60-yard drive with a 5-yard run with 7:49 to go in the period.

The teams traded punts, and South Western iced the game with a long drive of its own, 60 yards in all. Geiman took the quarterback sneak in with 9:08 left in the game for the 21-6 final score.

New Oxford fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Kaiden Gayford recovered the ball for the Mustangs. South Western also came up with another turnover on New Oxford's final possession, with Staub snuffing out quarterback Corban Czap's pass in the red zone.

South Western hosts Central York next Friday, while New Oxford travels to Spring Grove.

South Western 21, New Oxford 6

South Western7707—21New Oxford0060—6

First Quarter

SW — Noah Staub 21 pass from Brock Geiman (Wes Sneeringer kick), 1:49.

Second Quarter

SW — Jeff Green 27 pass from Geiman (Sneeringer kick), 0:22.

Third Quarter

NO — Joshua Shultz 5 run (kick failed), 7:49.

Fourth Quarter

SW — Geiman 1 run (Sneeringer kick), 9:08.

SWNOFirst downs127Rushes-yards40-14540-56Passing5-14-26-13-0Passing yards7066Total yards215122Punts1-32.02-26.0Fumbles-lost1-12-0Penalties-yards6-604-30

Individual statistics

Rushing — SW, Jeff Green 10-38, DeSean Crump 7-37, Tyler Fulmore 9-30, Zach Hughes 4-23, Brock Geiman 6-16, Mike Johnson 1-2, Zach Mehring 1-0, Nigel Williams 2-(-1). NO, Joshua Shultz 22-95, Trevon Brown 1-12, Elijah Myers 2-8, Corban Czap 13-(-1), Benjamin Rivera 2-(-58).

Passing — SW, Geiman 5-14-2-70. NO, Czap 6-12-1-66, John Wessel 0-1-0-0.

Receiving — SW, Staub 2-32, Green 2-25, Crump 1-13. NO, Brown, 4-57, Bret Saveleski 1-9.