By BURDELL HENSLEY
CDAR FALLS — Herald photo by Jim Gries
Pella junior receiver Travis Ewing is airborne after making a reception in the first half against New Hampton in their Class 3A semifinal game Monday night at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls. Making Ewing fly through the air is the Chickasaws’ Dalton Reams. The Little Dutch were big in their 30-21 semifinal win and will face top-ranked Harlan Saturday in the championship game.
When the Iowa High School Athletic Association expanded the playoff field by taking four teams out of each district, there were lots of nay sayers. The cry was that the playoffs had been cheapened, and perhaps so in some cases. But the Pella Little Dutch are living proof of the benefits of the expansion.
After a 14-3 loss to Grinnell in week six, the Little Dutch had a 3-3 record and a playoff berth was in question. But Pella ran off three wins to end the regular season and sneaked into the playoffs as a fourth seed in its district. Now after knocking off three district champions including Monday night’s 30-21 win over New Hampton in the UNI Dome, Pella is knocking on the door of the title room.
Pella quarterback Blaine Forsythe spoke about the feeling of winning as a low seed.
“We were the fourth seed and some said we should not be here,” Forsythe said. “This is just a great feeling and we never gave up. Our defense stepped up, our offense stepped up and we have our goals set high.”
Things didn’t look so good for the Little Dutch at the beginning of the game. Forsythe kicked off to the Chickasaws and the ball went into the end zone for a touch back. New Hampton then ripped off an 80-yard drive in just four plays to score. On the first play Brock Boeding got to the outside and went 53 yards down the sideline for a first down. On the next play, Lee Schuchhardt ran the counter for 27 yards to put the ball in the Pella five. After a short dive, Brandon Henn plowed through the middle for a three-yard score. Dominic Samec kicked the PAT for a 7-0 Chickasaw lead with 10:18 remaining in the first period.
The next chain of events left many of the green-clad throng on the west side of the field pinching themselves to see if what happened was for real. Pella would put 16 points on the board before the offense would touch the football.
New Hampton kicked the ball to Brett Bogaard at the 11-yard line and he dropped the ball. Bogaard picked up the ball and bolted up the middle. It was as if the Red Sea had parted and he shot through a gaping hole and veered to the left sideline. Once Bogaard got to the corner, he turned on the jets and no Chickasaw would catch him. The play covered 89 yards and the PAT by Forsythe was good for a 7-7 tied with 10:04 remaining in the first quarter.
Bogaard spoke about a déjà vu on the kickoff return.
“That happened against Williamsburg also,” Bogaard said. “I dropped the ball there as well, but in both cases if seemed that the drop gave the wall time to form and I was able to take advantage of it. The blockers just did what they were supposed to do.”
The Pella crowd was electric, and they were about to receive another charge. The defense held the Chickasaws on three downs and a punt was in order. New Hampton’s Garrett Hogeland dropped back to punt and Pella’s Matt Meyers came up the middle like a cannon ball. Meyers smothered the ball with his chest and it squirted to the left where an alert Todd Wegter scooped up the ball and dashed 17 yards to score. The kick by Forsythe was good and less than five minutes into the game Pella had a 14-7 lead.
But wait, there’s more.
An illegal block on the kickoff pushed the Chickasaws back to their own nine-yard line. They ran the option on the first play and the pitch got away. New Hampton got the ball back, but they were trapped in the end zone for a safety and a 16-7 Pella lead at the 7:30 mark of the first quarter.
For the remainder of the first half, the game settled into a field position battle as both defenses slugged it out. Little by little, the momentum began to swing towards the Chickasaws. After a Forsythe punt pinned New Hampton on its own six-yard line, the Chickasaws began a march that took them into Little Dutch territory. An interception and a return of 28 yards by Forsythe ended the threat.
It didn’t take Pella long to seize the momentum in the third period. The Little Dutch took the first drive of the half 65 yards in seven plays to score on a 12 yard pass from Forsythe to Josh Pringle. Forsythe’s kick increased the Pella lead to 23-7 one minute into the second half. Big plays in the drive included a 30-yard pass from Forsythe to Ryan Lanke and big first down carries by Bogaard and Meyers.
New Hampton answered with a nine-play, 68-yard drive that was capped by a two-yard run by Boeding and a two point conversion run by Alec Lang. The lead was cut to eight points and momentum seemed to be teetering toward the Chickasaw side of the field.
After the two teams traded punts, the Little Dutch came up with yet another big play. A short New Hampton punt gave Pella the ball on the Little Dutch 45 and on the first play, one more jolt of electricity surged through the green crowd.
The call was a screen pass and Forsythe found Deckar Lynch behind a wall of blockers. Lynch took advantage of the blocks and then danced his way through the New Hampton secondary for the 45-yard score. Again, the kick by Forsythe was good and the Little Dutch had a 30-15 lead with 2:26 left in the third stanza.
In the final quarter, the Pella defense stepped up big and held the Chickasaws on a fourth and two situation at the Pella 45. New Hampton was able to score one more time, but the Pella defense forced them to use some valuable time in getting the score. Hogeland passed to Beoding for the score, but the PAT kick was wide setting the final score at 30-21 with 6:23 left in the game.
New Hampton would get two more possessions in the game and each time the Little Dutch defense came up with a key interception. The first was by Pringle and the final pick was by Forsythe.
Pella coach Jay McKinstrey was so pleased with the play of his team.
“We played very well,” McKinstrey said. “Our defense was great and our special teams really kept us going. We talked at halftime about the importance of getting the ball and taking some time off the clock. It was really important for us to score first in the second half.”
The 10-3 Little Dutch will advance to Saturday’s title game at 4:05 p.m on Saturday. The foe will be top ranked Harlan, a 42-7 winner over Carroll. Once again the Little Dutch will be the underdog, but they seem to thrive on being in that position.
Pella 30, New Hamton 21
Pella 16 0 14 0 — 30
NH 7 0 8 6 — 21
Scoring summary
Fiest Quarter
NH — Brandon Henn 3 run (Dominec Samec kick), 10:18
P — Brett Bogaard 89 kickoff return (Blaine Forsythe kick), 10:04
P — Todd Wegter 17 blocked punt return (Forsythe kick), 7:48
P — Safety, 7:30
Third Quarter
P — Josh Pringle 12 pass from Forsythe(Forsythe kick), 11:00
NH — Brock Boeding 2 run (Albert Lang run), 6:343
P — Deckar Lynch 45 pass from Forsythe (Forsythe kick), 2:26
Fourth Quarter
NH — Boeding 12 pass from Garrett Hogeland( Kick failed), 6:23
Team statistics
NH Pella
First Downs 17 10
Rushes-yards 42-299 29-60
Passing yards 103 165
Total yards 402 225
Comp-Att-Int 11-18-2 10-19-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties 6-54 4-39
Individual statistice
RUSHING — New Hampton, Boeding 24-164, Schuchhart 5-55, Lang 4-56. Pella, Matt Meyers 6-23, Brett Bogaard 111-27.
PASSING — New Hampton, Hogeland 11-18-2-103. Pella, Blaine Forsythe 10-18-0-65, Teag Klyn 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — New Hampton, Schuchhart 1-29, Larkin 2-21, Lenehan 2-27. Pella, Deckar Lynch 1-45, Andy Vander Broek 3-47, Ryan Lanke 1-30, Travis Ewing 2-25, Josh Pringle 3-18.
TACKLES — Pella, Meyers 10, Mark Trommel 9, Pringle 8.
INTERCEPTIONS — Pella, Forsythe 2,
