Pella jumped out to a 28-0 lead and held on for a 40-13 football win over Keokuk last night at Central College in a game heard live on KRLS2.

The Dutch scored on their first four possessions – a Colin Kerndt five-yard run, two touchdown tosses from Kerndt to Harrison Mullens (8 and 35 yards) and a 55-yard scamper from Emmanuel Diers – but a third touchdown catch by Mullens was taken off the board because of a holding penalty.

That allowed the Chiefs to creep back into the game, scoring just before the half and again in the middle of the third quarter, but Kerndt scored on runs of 32 and eight yards in the fourth quarter to provide the final margin.

The Dutch are 2-0 for the first time since 2019, and while coach Jay McKinstrey was pleased with the full body of work, he was disappointed that it took so long to put the game out of reach.

“The fact is that we probably got a little too giddy on the sideline. You lose focus and you get giddy and you kind of think this is easy. Next thing you know, you’re in a game. That happened a little bit and hopefully our kids can learn from that that when you get a team down you have to try to finish them as soon as you can because you can not give them life.”

Kerndt rushed for 84 yards and the three scores while throwing for 165 and two touchdowns. Diers ran for 138 yards on just 12 carries and Mullens finished with a team high three catches for 52 yards and two trips to the end zone.

The Dutch will try to make it three in a row to start the season when they host Indianola for homecoming next Friday night at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium.