Sep. 4—KEOKUK — The Dutch found themselves trailing Keokuk after the first quarter in Friday night's week two non-district football matchup, but Pella would rally and control play over the next three quarters to come away with a 31-17 victory to grab their first win of their 2023 campaign.

Keokuk came out hot and quickly picked up a 10-0 lead before a Jack Briggs interception flipped the momentum for the Dutch. From there, Pella would outscore the Chiefs 31-7 the rest of the way to pick up the win.

Both team's quarterbacks had big scoring nights with Keokuk's Brenton Hoard going 14-of-26 for 206 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 85 yards. Pella's Luke Hardman was 7-of-12 for 68 passing yards and four total touchdowns between the air and the ground.

Bailey Shetterly and Tyson Barnes both caught touchdown passes for Pella while the ground attack had a great bounce back night with Emmanuel Diers rushing for 117 yards on 11 carries and Reed Beard going for 72 yards on eight carries.

Carson Leathers led the Pella defense with six tackles while Nicolas Stanley was a disrupter on the defensive line with 5.5 tackles (three for loss) and two sacks. Barnes and Briggs both had picks as well.

Pella (1-1) stays on the road as they head to Indianola (1-1) on Friday, Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Pella 31, Keokuk 17

PHS 6 16 6 3

KEOK 10 7 0 0

Pella Stats

Passing — Hardman 7/12 68 yards 2 TD 1 INT

Rushing — Diers 11-117, Beard 8-72, Hardman 16-(-12) 2 TD

Receiving — Barnes 4-41 1 TD, Shetterly 2-20 1 TD, Misterek 1-7

Top three tackles — Leathers 6, Stanley 5.5, Shetterly 5

Sacks — Stanley 2, Parsons 1.5, Misterek 1

Interceptions — Barnes 1, Briggs 1

Colin Peters can be reached at 641-672-2581, by email at cpeters@oskyherald.com or on Twitter @ColinPetersOH.