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Pella’s magical post season and dreams of a state football championship came to an end Saturday following their 35-14 loss to top ranked Harlan in the Class 3A championship game. Pella battled Harlan to a scoreless first quarter but that quickly changed as Harlan racked up over 200 yards and scored on all four of their possessions in the second quarter to gain a 28-0 halftime lead. The Cyclones stretched their lead to 35-0 with a touchdown midway through the third quarter which activated the running clock , but Pella refused to give up and actually outscored Harlan 14-7 in the second half. Pella coach Jay Mckinstrey says things got ugly in that second quarter, but he was pleased with how the kids didn’t give up and showed a lot of pride all the way to the finish. Pella avoided the shutout when Brett Bogaard scored on a two yard run with 6:58 remaining in the game. Pella then executed a perfect onside kick from Blake Bogaard that was recovered by Dekkar Lynch at Haraln’s 46 yard line. Ten plays later Blaine Forsythe connected with Josh Pringle for a 10 yard touchdown with 2:28 remaining to pull Pella within 35-14. After forcing Harlan to punt, Pella had one final possession and drove to the Cyclone six yard line, but on the final play a bad snap resulted in a 22 yard loss to end the game. [simage=1002,200,y,right]

Matt “ Bubba” Meyers led Pella on the ground with nine carries for 37 yards, Brett Bogaard was limited to just 17 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries but finished his senior season with 1003 yards and 16 touchdowns. Forsythe connected on 15-28 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown and wrapped up his senior season with 1765 yards and 18 touchdowns. Josh Pringle caught 6 passes for 81 yards and a scorr to lead the receivers. Pella ends the season 10-4 and finishes runners up in Class 3A, their highest finish in school history. They lose 24 seniors from this years team.