2005 Year in Review

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Ponies Fall in Waning Minutes

As it always seems to be, Morrison and Newman locked up in a duel on Friday night. Unfortunately, the Ponies couldn’t pull it out. The Shooting Stars controlled the ball for most of the fourth quarter on a 20-play drive that went 94 yards and resulted in a one-yard touchdown run by Justin Shippert with less than a minute to play to give the Newman a 14-6 victory. The Shooting Stars were able to rack up 262 yards while holding the Ponies to only 129 yards. The Ponies were also unable to take advantage of three Newman turnovers and ended the season with a 6-3 record.

The Shooting Stars held the opening possession for four and a half minutes before Shippert scored on the tenth play of the drive with a three-yard run up the middle. The Ponies would be unable to get a drive going as Derek Hamstra started the drive with a two-yard run before Derek Ward was hauled down for a three-yard loss. Ward found Hamstra with a six-yard pass but the Ponies would be forced to punt it over to the Comets. On the first play of the drive, the Shooting Stars fumbled and the Ponies recovered to set themselves up in good field position. Vandermyde started the drive with a four-yard run before Matt Proud ran for two more yards. Vandermyde then found Proud out of the backfield for a 15-yard gain and a first down. From there, Hamstra plowed his way in from six yards out to tie the game at six apiece. The extra-point was no good by Seth Ashpole and the score stood deadlocked at 6-6.
Newman began to put together a drive at the end of the first quarter and carried that drive over to the second quarter as well. Nine plays into the drive, the Ponies finally brought it to a stop when the Shooting Stars fumbled the ball and Matt Proud hopped on it for the Ponies to take over possession. The Ponies came back downfield with a steady mix of pass and run. Vandermyde started the drive with a 10-yard pass to Dustin Jones. Tylor Hayes then gained a yard on the ground before Hamstra picked up another three to bring up third and six. Vandermyde then dropped back and found Ward across the middle for an eight-yard gain and first down. Hamstra ran twice more for six yards and Vandermyde ran for three more on third down to bring up fourth and one. Vandermyde would keep it himself for a five-yard gain to move the sticks. On first down, Vandermyde found Jones for a gain of seven more yards. On second down Vandermyde threw deep to Ward who was all alone but the pass was dropped bringing up third down with just under two minutes left. The Shooting Stars would force the Ponies to turn it over on downs allowing Newman to run the clock out and bring an end to the first half.
It continued to be all Newman in the third quarter with the Pony passing game becoming unsuccessful and the ground game also faltered despite Newman’s ball control. Newman started off on another 10+ play drive in the third only to have it finally brought to a half after a pass on the 15th play fell incomplete. The Ponies saw some success in the form of 20 yards rushing in the quarter by Hamstra, however, the Ponies were unable to get anything put together and were forced to punt twice. With one quarter remaining, the score remained tied at six apiece.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Shooting Stars after the Ponies were unable to start a drive at the beginning of the quarter. After that point, Newman started a 20-play drive that ate up a vast majority of the clock before they finally scored on a one-yard run by Shippert with just :51 remaining on the clock. Shippert added the two-point conversion to make it 14-8. The Ponies scrambled to respond and things looked promising with Vandermyde found Ethan Goodenough on the first play for a gain of 19 yards. After an incompletion, Vandermyde’s pass intended for Ward was intercepted bring an end to the Ponies’ hopes. Newman fell to a knee to preserve the victory.
The Ponies were led on the ground by Derek Hamstra who gained 37 yards on ten carries and a touchdown. Nate Vandermyde ran six times for four yards. Matt Proud had one carry for two yards and Tylor Hayes ran twice for three yards. Vandermyde was 8-17 passing for 79 yards. Derek Ward was 1-3 passing for six yards. Derek Hamstra caught three passes for 16 yards. Dustin Jones caught two passes for 17 yards. Derek Ward caught two passes for 18 yards. Matt Proud caught one pass for 15 yards and Ethan Goodenough caught one pass for 19 yards.

by rustinl
2005-10-23 21:37:52