The Indianola football team fought back from a 12-0 halftime deficit to have a chance to tie the score with just seconds remaining but fell to Pella on the road 24-22 as heard live on 94.3 KNIA.

The Indians got off to a slow start as Pella scored on two big plays in the first half from Emmanuel Diers, and couldn’t finish off drives to trail by 12 at the break due to two missed extra points from the Dutch, a common theme of the night. Indianola forced a fumble and scored a Jake Pontier touchdown to get back into the game trailing 12-7. After forcing another punt, Indianola would settle for an Aiden Keller field goal to cut the lead to 12-10, but Pella would immediately score another long Diers touchdown to lead 18-10 after another missed extra point.

Quarterback Asher Brueck found Parker Kaufman for a 62-yard touchdown late in the fourth to have a chance to tie the score, but the two-point conversion failed and Indianola trailed 18-16. Pella drove down the field and scored another touchdown and had to convert the extra point to seal the game, but Indianola blocked the try and kept it a one-score game. Brueck and Kaufman connected again with less than a minute to go to get within two points, but Pella knocked down the two-point try to end the game.

Indians head coach Eric Kluver tells KNIA Sports he was proud of the comeback, but his team can’t start slow.

“We have to learn a little bit of maturity and how to come out and play every single night. We can’t be up and down, because this is what you get with up and down. High’s and low’s. You have to be consistent, you’ve heard me say that year after year after year, and we just aren’t consistent right now.”

Kaufman had 125 yards and two scores, while Pontier rushed for 166 yards and a score. Indianola falls to 2-1 on the season, and will host Carlisle for homecoming this week.