Ryan Van Wyk’s 21-yard touchdown reception with no time left on the clock sent two-time defending champion Pella back to the title game with a 34-30 win over Cedar Rapids Xavier in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

It was a back-and-forth affair in which neither team led by more than a touchdown. The Saints’ Shane Scott had booted his third field goal of the game with just 3:34 to play to give Xavier a 30-28 lead.

On the ensuing drive, Little Dutch quarterback Nick Finnney threw his third interception of the game, but the Pella defense forced a three-and-out to give them the ball back with less than a minute remaining.

Out of timeouts, Finney hit a short pass to Drew Pringle, then a 27-yard yarder to Van Wyk with just seven seconds remaining. With first-and-ten at the 21, Finney made the decision on the fly to go for the win rather than clock the ball.

“I first ran over to Ryan (Van Wyk) because I knew I wanted to get the ball to Ryan. So I ran over to Ryan and told him to run a post corner, then I ran over to my other wide receivers to tell them what to run, but I knew I was going to Ryan.”

Number 4 threw it, and 26 was there to grab the winner.

“I knew that Nick would give me an opportunity to go make a play. He threw a great ball, and I couldn’t be any happier.”

Finney finished 19-of-32 for 342 yards and three touchdowns passing, and he added 96 yards rushing with a pair of scores.

Both Van Wyk and Holterhaus went over 150 yards receiving. Holterhaus caught seven balls for 156 and a score, and Van Wyk caught 7 for 164, including the biggest play in Pella history.

It’s the 40th consecutive win for Pella as they improve to 12-0 this season. The Little Dutch will play Webster City, a 6-3 winner over Glenwood, in next Thursday night’s state championship game.