Members of the Pella High football team spent the weekend going over their final preparations for tonight’s Class 3-A quarterfinal. The Dutch are coming off of a 56-0 dismantling of ADM last Monday in Pella, and will face off against Carlisle; who downed Norwalk 35-17 to earn their way into the quarterfinals. Pella Head Football Coach Jay McKinstrey says one of the challenges that the Wildcats will present is their triple option style of offense.

“You’ve got to stay so disciplined when you play Carlisle because you’ve got to cover their quarterback, the fullback and the pitch back on every play,” says McKinstrey. “If they’re going to run a lot of the option, you have to stay very, very disciplined on defense to make sure you cover their option. They’re a hard team to play.”

Carlisle was in Pella’s district, and handed the Little Dutch a heart-breaking 27-23 loss in the fifth game of the season. Despite that history, McKinstrey insists that his team is not giving any attention to what happened last year.

“We’re focused on this year’s football team and this game tonight, because it’s a shot to get to the semifinals and to play in the UNI-Dome,” adds McKinstrey, “and that should be motivation enough to play well.”

As was the case for the Little Dutch in last year’s quarterfinal, the game will be played at Pella High. The winner of tonight’s game advances to the Class 3-A Semifinals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls next Monday. The game will be broadcast live on 92.1 fm KRLS with Eric Gotschall and Randy Sikkema providing the call, with coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. and kickoff set for 7:00 p.m.

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