On Friday, November 1st, the Seminole Chieftains traveled north to battle the Mannford Pirates. Needing to win their final two games of the regular season to secure a playoff spot, the Chieftains used a big day on the ground to defeat the Pirates, 44-21. With the win Seminole moves to 6-3 overall with a 3-3 record in district play and is one win away from their first playoff appearance since 2021.

The Chieftains received the game’s opening kickoff and got right to work. QB Dontre Garfield would cap off a 65-yard scoring drive when he ran in for a touchdown from 13 yards out, giving Seminole an early 8-0 lead. That is where the score would stay headed into the 2nd quarter after both teams turned the ball over on downs.

Seminole would score on all three of their 2nd quarter possessions to blow the game wide open. First was QB Dontre Garfield running in for his 2nd touchdown of the game, this time from 40 yards. Then RB Donavin Garfield found a crease and ran untouched for an 88-yard touchdown. Lastly, with just 40 seconds left in the half, WR Jay Ladd took a screen pass 65 yards to the house. With the Seminole defense pitching a first half shutout, the Chieftains took a 32-0 lead into the break.

Mannford would end Seminole’s shutout bid with a five-minute scoring drive to open up the 2nd half, making the score 32-7. The Chieftains would respond when RB Armon Burris went 29 yards on the ground into the endzone. This gave Seminole a comfortable 38-7 lead headed into the final period.

The Pirates show some grit in the 4th quarter, putting together two touchdown drives. However, a 59-yard touchdown run by Seminole RB Reed Bowers with six minutes left sealed the win and gave the Chieftain’s a 44-21 over the Pirates.

Here is what Head Coach Mike Snyder had to say after the win. “That was a good win but real sloppy. You know just too many mistakes and you can’t beat good people like that. We got good people coming next week and so we will correct those and go get after it. We’ve already started playoffs, we had to have this one and the one next week. We are right where we need to be.”

The sloppy mistakes Coach Snyder is referring to are the 13 penalties for 130 yards his team compiled during Friday night’s contest.

Other statistics for the Chieftains include rushing for 369 yards on 25 attempts, a whopping 14.76 yards per carry. RB Donavin Garfield led the ground game, finishing with 10 carries for 179 yards and a touchdown.

QB Dontre Garfield finished 9-14 passing for 141 yards and a touchdown. His number one target was WR Landon Bowling, who finished with 4 receptions for 30 yards.

The Chieftains will be back in action on Friday, November 8th. A Senior Night celebration in Chieftain Stadium against the Victory Christian Conquerors with a playoff spot on the line. The game time is set for 7:30PM.