—
An incredible spring sports season continues for Pella High School, with the boys soccer team earning the program’s first-ever state championship Saturday.

In a matter of seven minutes, the Pella boys soccer team went from the brink of ending their season with a 2nd place trophy to the Class 2A title.

The Little Dutch scored twice in that time against previously-unbeaten Storm Lake to claim the program’s first championship finish.

Pella came flying out of the gates early, with an Ethan Poulter header starting the scoring just a minute and a half in. The Tornadoes would counter with a free kick, and a 1-1 tie remained on the scoreboard three minutes into the second half, when a Storm Lake try at the net took a bad bounce off of Lucas Warner into his own goal.

A furious rally came for the Dutch late in the 2nd half, with Ian Vasina outplaying the Tornadoes defense and feeding Ben Nelson a goal at 6:13 remaining. From there, Pella fed off of the momentum, and with 1:28, Soren Stelter’s header sealed the win.

Stelter (pictured above with Coach Mark Solomon) tells KNIA/KRLS Sports he was in the right place at the right time.

“I saw [the ball] just go up — I don’t know what really happened before that, but I saw it in the air, and I was like ‘it was worth a shot,'” he recalls. “And I’ll I heard was just the crowd screaming, I didn’t even look in the goal–I just knew it went in and the rest is just history. It’s unreal.”

Pella had four players on the 2A All-Tournament team, including Poulter, Stelter, Goalkeeper Sam Warner and Defender and All-Tourney Captain Joe Bacon.

The Little Dutch finish the season 18-2, sending off 10 seniors with a 2A championship in the team’s 5th-ever state tournament appearance. Tune in to the Marion County PM Sports Page Wednesday for full interviews with the athletes involved in the victory.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS | More