Shootout at Seminole

SEMINOLE - Seminole head coach Mike Snyder has been around football a long time and hasn’t seen anything like he observed Friday night.
McLoud senior quarterback Dillon Endecott threw for 438 yards and four touchdowns while running for two more scores and senior wide-out Von Kendrick had 16 catches for a whopping 297 yards and two touchdowns as the Redskins stunned the Seminole Chieftains 40-36 in the regular season finale at Chieftain Stadium.
Endecott hooked up with Josh Idleman on an 8-yard scoring pass with 1:01 to go to lift the Redskins to the wild victory.
“I’ve been around this business a long time and I’ve never seen two players who had these type of performances against us,” said Snyder. “If their quarterback does not get hurt midway through the season, they’re in serious contention for a playoff spot.”
Endecott, who dislocated his kneecap in week three of the season, was nifty with his passing on Friday, connecting on 22-of-35 passes while being intercepted just once. He not only ran for scores of 7 and 1 yards, but passed to Kendrick for touchdowns of 6 and 41 yards, Travis Carroll for 25 yards and the game-winning 8-yard score to Idleman.
“That combo really works well together,” said McLoud head coach Eric Cardin. “We got Dillon back last week. He’s got a great arm and Von can catch anything you throw at him.”
The Redskins, despite missing the playoffs, won their final three games of the season to finish at 3-7 overall and 3-4 in District 4A-2.
Seminole, which dropped to 4-6 and 3-4, qualified for the playoffs by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker. The Chieftains will go to Weatherford next Friday for the first round of the 4A playoffs.
Two backs gained over 100 rushing yards for the Chieftains. Chris Wolfe gained 233 yards on 41 carries and scored three touchdowns on short runs of 1, 2 and 2 yards, while Adam Kuehner netted 119 yards on 15 carries with TD runs of 5 and 34 yards.
Seminole rolled up 347 yards on the ground and 80 through the air as quarterback Garrett Clark was 8-of-12 passing. McLoud compiled 507 yards of offense, but only 69 came on the ground.
“I was pleased with our offensive line. They played well. We can pass block and we did what we needed to do to win,” said Cardin. “The last three weeks, we found ways to win. Our kids will never quit and could have real easily.”
McLoud’s passing game was so effective that two of its scoring drives were 94 and 91 yards, the latter of which was the game-winning series.
The Chieftains led 14-0 after one quarter on scoring runs of 1 yard by Wolfe and 5 by Kuehner.
But the Redskins responded with 26 unanswered points off a 7-yard scramble by Endecott with 10:30 to go in the second quarter, an Endecott 6-yard TD pass to Kendrick with 5:05 remaining in the half and a 25-yard pass scoring aerial from Endecott to Carroll 37 seconds before the break.
Leading 20-14, McLoud took the second half kickoff and went up 26-14 on Endecott’s 1-yard scoring run.
Seminole then scored off its next three possessions for a 36-26 advantage. Back-to-back 2-yard scoring runs by Wolfe led to a 29-26 Chieftain lead with 10:13 left and Kuehner ripped off his 34-yard scoring run with 7:42 remaining for the 10-point advantage.
The Redskins quickly responded in just three plays as Endecott hooked up with Kendrick on a 41-yard scoring pass with 6:55 left.
The Chieftains had a chance to put the game away, driving to the McLoud 9-yard line, but Clark’s pass was incomplete on fourth down as the Redskins then marched 91 yards for the winning score.
For McLoud, Carroll caught three passes for 44 yards, including the one touchdown, and Idleman had two receptions for 41 yards and the game-winning score. Jake Rowland also finished with a pair of 10-yard catches.
Seminole’s Josh Cramer had six of his team’s eight catches for 79 yards.
Also for the Chieftains, Seth Hallum intercepted a pass and broke up two more.