Missed opportunities in the first half and mistakes in the second half added up to a 30-6 season opening setback for the top-ranked Pella High football team last night at number two Dallas Center-Grimes in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Little Dutch trailed just 7-6 at halftime, but felt like they could have had the lead.  They lost a fumble deep in Mustang territory in the first quarter, and had both a field goal and an extra point blocked in the second quarter.  The touchdown came just before half when Ryan Mace hit Reece Thoreson on a 12-yard strike.

The third quarter is when things really went off the rails for Pella.  The Little Dutch committed six penalties for 52 yards in that quarter alone, including a holding call in the end zone for a safety and an illegal substitution on fourth down to keep a DCG scoring drive alive.  Coach Jay McKinstrey says that those are the types of things that can’t happen if you expect to win a game against a good team.

“All the little things add up to big things, and I think that happened tonight.  Especially against a team like DCG that’s potentially a semifinal top four team in the state.  You can’t make mistakes like that, you’ve got to do the little things correct.  Our kids are going to learn, that’s all I asked them after the game was to make sure we learn from this.  To grow as a football team, you might have to go through some growing pains, and I think that’s what our team needs.”

The Little Dutch mustered just 161 yards of offense on the evening, including only 24 in the second half.  Mace finished 6-of-20 for 91 yards, with Grant Nelson hauling in three of those passes for 79 receiving yards.

Pella is 0-1 to start the season, and will host Harlan in the home opener next Friday night.  The third-ranked Cyclones beat Grinnell 40-28 last night.