Even with a tough three-game schedule that the Pella High football team faced at the beginning of the 2012 season, head coach Jay McKinstrey was still excited about who his team was going to play, because it gave him and his coaching staff a chance to see who they were as a football team early in the year. McKinstrey had implemented a different style of offense that didn’t seem to be clicking with his young squad, which led to a 1 – 2 start. It was at that point, before heading into district play, that they had to take a hard look at the direction their team was heading. Reverting back to what some called “traditional” Pella High football seemed to work, starting with a narrow win over Knoxville, 14 – 13, the Little Dutch rattled off five consecutive district victories, that led them to a number two seed in the Class 3A playoffs. Pella would lose in round two to Williamsburg, 54 – 27.