With a strong arm and fast feet, Pindell gained more than 300 yards per game in leading the Scorpions to a 9-2 season, their first winning record in more than a decade.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound quarterback had a hand in 44 touchdowns. He completed 163 of 244 passes for 2,447 yards with 23 touchdowns and five interceptions. He ran 153 times for 924 yards and 21 touchdowns.
With Pindell leading the way, Oakland Mills emerged as a contender for the first time since 2003 when a grade-fixing scandal all but destroyed the program. In the decade since, the Scorpions had won only 17 games. Two years ago, they were 0-10.
"He's a huge, huge reason for the turnaround, because he got kids interested in football," Scorpions coach Thomas Browne said. "He's like the equivalent of a gym rat for hoops. In the offseason, even on lifting days, he'd grab kids after we'd lift and take them to the park next to our school and he would make them run routes and he would throw it to them. Every single day after school, he would go out."
This fall, Pindell averaged 222 passing yards and 86 rushing yards. Several times he threw for more than 300 yards and ran for more than 100.
He had a lot of responsibility for deciding which play to run at the line of scrimmage.
"He matured so much as a decision maker," Browne said. "In our offense, he makes a lot of decisions pre-snap and post-snap. He'll get a couple options with the play call. He can throw or decide to hand the ball off and then most of our option is read-based so he has to think, make a pre-snap decision whether he wants to throw a screen or a quick-gain pass. If he doesn't like that he'll go to some sort of read which is a post-snap decision. That takes time and he's matured a lot at that this year."
Even in the Scorpions' losses, Pindell excelled. He threw for 232 yards in a 35-6 loss to Glenelg. In the 60-41 Class 2A South region semifinal loss to Patuxent, he threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 80 yards.
"I consider myself a pocket passer and I can make plays on the run if I have to. I could put the ball downfield into the hands of the best athletes on our team," said Pindell of his receivers Tre Hopkins, Shawn Harris, Jordan Campbell and Ra'shawn Curbeam. "I trusted my receivers. We had guys I had played with for more than two years and I knew what their style of play was like and I just knew how they could play the ball."
In a 41-32 win over Reservoir, Pindell threw for 409 yards, ran for 83 and scored five touchdowns. In a 28-21 win over River Hill, he ran for all four touchdowns.
"The big thing with David is he's a complete quarterback," River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen said. "He can hurt you with his feet. He runs the option well. He makes good decisions throwing the ball — he's just the whole package. He can throw the deep ball. He's accurate on the underneath stuff. He's got a quick release. I think he's going to go on to college and do some great things there, as well."
Pindell also impressed with his toughness.
"He carried the ball a ton," Browne said. "When people watch him play, what immediately brings their attention to him is his arm. He has a quick release, he's very accurate and he can throw the ball a mile, but we ran the ball way more than we threw the ball this year. He almost rushed for 1,000 yards and he takes a beating. He runs the ball between the tackles a lot and he never missed a snap, he never got hurt."
Pindell, who finished high school with 4,630 passing yards, will play in the Maryland Crab Bowl on Sunday at McDaniel. He has a scholarship offer from South Carolina State and has drawn interest from Monmouth and Buffalo.