CEDAR FALLS - The tulips in Pella will never look as pretty to Xavier football fans after what happened to their beat-up team in the UNI-Dome Thursday night.

In fact, the Saints might want to skip the next few tulip festivals in the old Dutch town entirely.

Pella and all-star quarterback Noah Clayberg proved their No. 1 billing in the state was no fluke Thursday by handing the 10th-ranked Saints their worst loss of the season, 27-0, in the semifinals of the Class 3A playoffs.

The Dutch held Xavier to a grand total of 49 yards of offense, including minus-2 yards on the ground and a skimpy 51 yards through the air (nearly all of it on one play in the fourth quarter).

Meanwhile, Clayberg rushed for 117 yards, passed for 112 yards, had a 35-yard punt return and executed a perfect 33-yard pooch punt to the 1-yard line.

"I knew coming in he was athletic," said Xavier Coach Duane Schulte. "He's got a good line in front of him. He did a good job."

Xavier quarterback Bryce Schulte - the coach's son - spent a good part of the night running for his life against the relentless Pella defense. Schulte got sacked a half-dozen times and finished with minus-38 yards in the rushing department.

The contest was basically over by halftime with the formidable Dutch owning a 20-0 lead, with a commanding 205-14 advantage in total offense.

The Saints lost 11 yards in the third period and entered the fourth stanza with a measley three yards of total offense.

"They're the real deal," said Coach Schulte. "They have big, fast, strong kids. They get off the ball and play good defense. They've got a team. It will be a good championship game."

Pella (13-0) will face Sioux City Heelan (12-1) for the Class 3A title next Thursday in the cozy warmth of the UNI-Dome. Heelan rolled by Creston, 59-14, in the other semifinal Thursday.

Xavier retired for the season with a 9-4 record in its first year in Class 3A.

The Saints knew Pella had a good ballclub, but the Dutch looked even better in person.

"They're a great football team," said Xavier cornerback Camden Stovie, who had one of the bright moments for the Saints when he intercepted one of Clayberg's passes in the end zone. "They definitely came out and had an edge on us and played better than us, unfortunately."

Xavier reached the state championship game in Class 4A in 2012 and 2013, but the Saints graduated most of the top players from those clubs and entered Thursday's game without leading rusher Jay Kortemeyer (ribs) and with fullback/linebacker Nic Ekland (leg) making only a token appearance in the backfield.

The Saints arrived in the UNI-Dome as a beat-up ballclub.

"Yeah, we really were," said Schulte. "I've quoted the Iowa staff before, so I'll quote them again: You just have to have next-man-in and try to play. And that's what we tried to do."

The Saints did not have the size, speed or athletic ability to compete with Pella, especially with several key guys out of action and several others playing hurt.

"We've been fighting some injuries, just trying to get through the season and do all we can to get to the next round, the next game," said Stovie, a graduating senior. It's doubtful the 10th-ranked Saints could have given Pella a better contest even if they were at full strength, however, because the Dutch looked awfully good on offense, defense and special teams.

Things became so desperate for Xavier in the first half that Schulte called for a fake punt on a 4th-and-19 play from his own 40-yard line with the Saints trailing 17-0. The pass by backup quarterback Blake Whitten fell incomplete and Pella took over on downs.

"We got behind and we had to try and think of things that would work," said Schulte. "And it didn't work."

Schulte warned all along that there were some awfully good ballclubs in Class 3A. The Saints defeated a pair of top-10 clubs in Waverly-Shell Rock and West Delaware to reach the UNI-Dome, but Pella was too much.

"I think you saw that 3A has some pretty good football teams," said Schulte. "It was proven tonight and it was proven in all three of our playoff games and it was proven during the regular season."

Schulte said he was proud of his team for making it this far.

"I'm proud of these seniors," he said after hugging them for their effort. "It's pretty special for them to get back to the Dome two years in a row. That doesn't happen very often. Some of them were here three years because they came up as sophomores."

Nathan Henry scored Pella's first two touchdowns on runs of 15 and 8 yards. Seth Johnson kicked a pair of field goals and Quinton Murphy scored on a one-yard run.

PELLA 27, XAVIER 0

.                         XAVIER        PELLA

First downs                5                17
Rushes-yards      29-(-)2         45-217
Passing yards            51             112
Comp-Att-Int       5-14-0        10-16-1
Fumbles-lost            1-0              0-0
Punts-avg.          7-42.6         2-30.5
Penalties-yards       2-20            6-55

Xavier     0   0  0  0 -   0
Pella     14   6  7  0 - 27

P - Nathan Henry 15 run (Seth Johnson kick)
P - Henry 8 run (Johnson kick)
P - Johnson 38 FG
P - Johnson 27 FG
P - Quinton Murphy 1 run (Johnson kick)

Individual Statistics
Rushing

Xavier:  Murphy 12-38, Williams 1-5, Stark 1-4, Krouse 1-0, Steffensmeier 2-minus 4, Schulte 12-minus 38.
Pella: Clayberg 22-117, Henry 12-67, Speltz 3-21, Murphy 5-15, Finney 3-minus 3.

Passing

Xavier: Schulte 5-13-0, 51 yards; Whitten 0-1-0, 0 yards.
Pella: Clayberg 10-16-1, 112 yards.

Receiving

Xavier: Stark 3-49, Murphy 1-9, Downey 1-minus 7.
Pella: Warner 5-46, Johnson 2-38, Henry 2-15, Schulte 1-13.