Pella turned the ball over five times and mustered only 143 yards of offense in a 6-0 season-ending loss to Grinnell in the opening round of the Class 3A football playoffs last night in a game heard live on the KRLS 2 stream at www.kniakrls.com.

The first of the turnovers came late in the first quarter when Kody Huisman took a handoff on first and goal from the five.  He appeared to cross the goal line, and the play looked over, but the ball came squirting out several seconds later.  The officials huddled and eventually gave the ball to Grinnell on a fumble recovery.  Little Dutch coach Jay McKinstrey says that was a huge turning point in the game.

“It’s hard because we know he was in and we can show he was in the end zone.  It changes the complexion of the game.  The whole game changes on that.  At the end, our defense is getting tired and we have no points.  But it’s sort of like a game last year where we just couldn’t get any momentum, couldn’t score, you had opportunities and the defense gets worn out.  If you’re up 7-0, it’s a whole different ball game.  You have momentum, you feel good about the way you’re playing, and you put them on the ropes.”

Grinnell scored the only points of the game when Cole McGriff hit Owen Coffman on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 1:09 left in the second quarter.

Pella finishes the season with a 6-3 record.  Grinnell improves to 8-2 and moves on to the quarterfinals where they’ll play at Cedar Rapids Xavier next Friday night.