Nick Finney’s 21-yard, game-ending touchdown to Ryan Van Wyk to give the Dutch a chance at their third straight title was unquestionably the biggest play in program history.

But conventional wisdom says it shouldn’t have happened, at least, the way it did.

With the clock running under seven seconds, Quarterback Nick Finney says he made the call to play for the win instead of a spike to stop the clock — mainly because of the team’s lack of experience in that situation and Finney’s belief they could get the job done.

“First of all, you can’t spike it from the shotgun, and I mean we haven’t taken a snap from under center all year and we haven’t practiced it, and that would be taking a chance just trying to do that,” Finney says.

“Also, I have faith in my guys, and really I thought we could make a play.”

So after throwing a big bomb to senior Ryan Van Wyk on the previous play, he sprinted over to his veteran wide receiver and told him to run a route before the clock started up.

“I just ran up to Ryan and told him to run a post-corner, then I pretty much told–we were in doubles, so I told Drew [Pringle] who was on his side to just get out of his way, pretty much, just run a post,” Finney recalls. “I don’t even know what I told the other side because I knew I was going to Ryan.”

The catch was made, and so was history. Because of the score, Pella will play against Webster City Thursday at 7:06 p.m. for a three-peat championship run. Wire-to-wire coverage begins at the UNI Dome at 5:00 with the Jeromy Dingeman Concrete Radio Preview Show in the Lil’ Big Red Radio on 92.1 KRLS.