McLoud 40
Seminole 36
Nov. 6, 2009

Seminole may have been the team to advance to the playoffs, but McLoud inflicted a deep, dark bruise on the Chieftain pride to end the 2009 regular season.

The Redskins came into the Week 10 showdown at 2-7 overall and 2-4 in District 4A-2, having broken a seven-game skid with wins in Weeks 8 and 9. One of McLoud’s longtime rivals, Seminole was 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the district.

There was no reason to doubt Seminole’s chances to put the game away. After all, McLoud quarterback Dillon Endecott had only been back under center since Week 9 thanks to a dislocated knee cap six weeks earlier.

Appearing to have never been sidelined, Endecott burned the Chieftain defense for four throwing scores and well over 400 aerial yards, and he struck for two rushing touchdowns in McLoud’s 40-36 season-ending shocker at Seminole.

Endecott was literally in on every McLoud score of the night.

The Chieftains led 14-0 after one quarter thanks to a 1-yard run by Chris Wolfe and a 5-yard run by Adam Kuehner. The hosts, however, found themselves in a 20-14 halftime hole as Endecott punched his way in from 7 yards out before connecting with Von Kendrick and Travis Carroll on TD tosses of 6 yards and 25 yards, respectively.

Kendrick was Endecott’s primary target, hauling in 16 catches for 297 yards. Endecott — pilfered just once — completed 22 of 35 passes for a grand total of 438 yards. That’s an average of 19.9 yards per throw for Endecott, and an average of 18.6 yards per reception for Kendrick.

“I’ve been around this business a long time and I’ve never seen two players who had these types of performances against us,” Seminole head coach Mike Snyder said of Endecott and Kendrick.

“That combo really works well together,” McLoud head coach Eric Cardin said of Endecott and Kendrick following the win.

Cardin said Endecott has “a great arm, and Von can catch anything you throw at him.”

McLoud increased its lead to 26-14 in the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Endecott, but the Chieftains stayed in the race on Wolfe’s ensuing 2-yard success. The Redskins went into the final 12 minutes with a scant 26-21 cushion.

The Chieftains mounted a comeback as Wolfe again scored from 2 yards out and Kuehner ran in from 34 yards. McLoud trailed 36-26 in the waning minutes, but eventually had Seminole’s lead cut to 36-33 on a 41-yard hookup from Endecott to Kendrick.

The Redskins put up the winning points with 1:01 left to play on an 8-yard TD reception by Josh Idleman.

Sndyer said had Endecott not been injured early in the season, the Redskins could have been a serious postseason contender. Instead it was Snyder and the Chieftains to move on, and they were bested 34-14 in the first round by Weatherford.

The Chieftains qualified for the playoffs by way of a three-way tiebreaker.

McLoud ended the game with 21 first downs and just over 500 yards of total offense. Seminole had 22 first downs, 347 rushing yards and 80 passing yards (427 total yards). Chieftain quarterback Garrett Clark was 8-for-12 with no interceptions.

Neither team fumbled the ball.

Note: Brian Johnson contributed to this report.