Pender ends year with playoff loss to Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family

The Pender Pendragons saw their season come to an end Thursday night as they lost 42-34 st home to Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family in the first round of the D-1 Playoffs.

The Bulldogs led 8-0 after one and shutout Pender 14-0 in the second quarter to take a 22-0 lead into the locker room.

The Pendragons won the third quarter 14-12 to make it a 34-14 game at the end of three.

Pender outscored Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family 20-8 in the fourth quarter, but it was to no avail.

Dylan Roth was 12-21 passing for 221 yards with 5 touchdowns and an interception.

James Bensen hauled in 3 passes for 88 yards while Tyler Nelson had 4 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. Brady Oliver made 5 catches for 58 yards, and scored twice.

Bensen had 143 yards rushing on 18 carries.

Leland Bowder made 7 tackles.

The Pendragons totaled 409 yards of offense, including 274 through the air.

The defense surrendered 358 yards of total offense, 275 coming on the ground.

I thought Pender did a good job rallying in the second half, but it was just too late for the Pendragons to win.

Pender wraps up the year at 4-5.

I thought the Pendragons would go at least 6-2 again and maybe win the District Title, but Pender didn't do quite as well as I thought they would.

It was still a good season for the Pendragons though, and Pender has a lot to be proud of.

Roth finished the season with almost 1300 yards passing and 22 touchdowns while Bensen rushed for 741 yards, and scored 10 rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, Bowder led the way with 74 tackles on the year while Jesse Thompson made a total of 70.

The win over Wakefield had to be the highlight of the season for the Pendragons. Pender played really well against the Trojans.

The Pendragons graduate Roth, Bensen, Braden Peters, Brayden Bensen, and Bowder.

These five are significant losses, but that's not a lot of seniors to lose.

Pender returns the likes of Thompson, Layne Heese, Jaydon Jump, Jared Tyrrell, Brady Oliver, and Tyler Nelson.

I think the Pendragons have a chance to build on this year's success and have another fine season in 2017.

Pender graduates some of their big gins, but the Pendragons have to be excited about who all comes back.

I look for the returning players and newcomers to come together and maybe form another playoff qualifying team in 2017.

There's a lot of hard work for these players and newcomers to get done in the offseason, but I'm sure everyone will work hard and plug away in some fashion from now until the start of practice in August.