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Down two starters for the entire game and losing another key player early in the second half, Pella was unable to maintain a 3-0 halftime lead as they fell to Grinnell 14-3 last night suffering their second straight loss and their third in the last four games on a rainy, windy night in Pella. Pella was forced to play without Josh Pringle who was home ill, then lost Andy Vanderbroek, who suffered a dislocated elbow on the opening kickoff, and played the entire second half without their leading receiver Richie Bales who suffered a severe hamstring pull early in the third quarter. Pella coach Jay Mckinstrey says the loss of those three key players hurt Pella, but they still had opportunities throughout the game and were unable to convert. He says that’s something that must improve for Pella and they’ll continue to work on finding ways to convert on third and fourth down opportunities.

The first half was a defensive battle as Pella forced two Grinnell turnovers including a fumble and an interception and it seemed each time the other team had a scoring opportunity the others defense would make big plays to stall the drive. Finally with 4:54 remaining in the first half Pella got on the board with a 39 yard field goal by Blaine Forsythe. Grinnell had a scoring opportunity late in the second quarter, but Pella’s Spencer Boeyink ended that with an interception in the end zone allowing Pella to run out the first half clock and take a 3-0 lead into halftime. Pella received the second half kickoff, but failed to move the ball and were forced to punt. Grinnell then drove down the field and scored on a 14 yard touchdown run by Jake O’Polka to take a 7-3 lead with 8:30 remaining in the third quarter. The Tigers defense again came up big stopping Pella on fourth down after the Little Dutch drove inside the Tigers 20 yard line and the next play saw Grinnell’s Trent Baker break loose for an 82 yard touchdown run to put the Tigers ahead for good with :17 remaining in the third quarter. With three of their main receivers out of the game and rainy, windy weather, Pella was forced to rely on the ground game offensively but just couldn’t do much against Grinnell ‘s defense. Pella managed just 155 yards offense for the game led by Blake Bogaard who carried 17 times for 62 yards, Blaine Forsythe completed just 1 of 8 through the air for 8 yards and he carried 18 times for 58 yards. Grinnell also completed just one pass but racked up 347 yards rushing. Pella drops to 3-3 on the season and 1-3 in Class 3A District 6 while Grinnell stays undefeated for the season at 6-0 and 4-0 in the district. Pella now must win their next three games to earn a playoff spot and will look to rebound at South Tama next Friday.

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