It wasn’t the fast start that they hoped for, but Pella bounced back from last week’s loss to Oskaloosa with a 49-17 win over Newton in a game heard live on www.kniakrls.com.

The Cardinals returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, sacked quarterback Ryan Gustafson on Pella’s first offensive play, and forced a punt. But the Little Dutch woke up with TD’s on their next six drives and added a pick six as Jay McKinstrey’s club scored 49 of the game’s next 52 points.

“We’re grateful for the way our defense got us the ball back pretty quick, and then we were able to get in and score on our second drive. I appreciate the way our kids stayed calm and understand that we’re still fine, we just have to do what we can to get ourselves back in this game and just play pretty well.”

Ryan Gustafson completed 11-of-17 passes for 177 yards and four touchdowns, and added a 22 yard rushing score. Two of his TD tosses went to Logan Shetterly, who added a third trip to the end zone with the third-quarter pick six. Gabe Thomas also scored twice for Pella, once on the ground and once through the air, and Sam Warner found paydirt as well.

Pella improves to 7-1 on the season and 3-1 in district play. Oskaloosa’s win over Knoxville clinches the district championship for the Indians, meaning that the Little Dutch must win next Friday against at home against Grinnell to keep their hopes of an at-large playoff berth alive.