Two long time rivals will renew one of the most competitive series over the past three decades of Iowa High School Basketball as Pella Christian and PCM square off in Pella Monday night.

Two future Hall of Fame coaches will highlight the boys’ matchup, as the 1-1 Eagles’ Larry Hessing and the 2-0 Mustangs’ Fred Lorenson sit on opposite sides of the scorer’s table once again. Both have taken their programs to Wells Fargo Arena ten times in their storied careers, with many of those trips made beating each other on the way to state.

Lorenson says it’s a rivalry built on respect, proximity, and tradition, and the next game in the series will be no different.

“We’ll try to play hard for 32 minutes and see what happens,” he says. “We obviously have great respect for them, they’ve got a great program, and a really, really great team this year, and it will be fun getting over there and trying to play.”

The girls matchup will feature a pair of ranked teams off to hot starts to begin the season. Both No. 9 in Class 2A Pella Christian and No. 13 in Class 3A PCM are 4-0.

Eagles Head Coach Kevin Van Maanen says the Mustangs represent another uptick in the quality of competition they will face in a very tough schedule before the holiday break.

“PCM is playing well, they’re ranked, and they’re coming to our place,” he says. “We don’t have a chance to practice beforehand but that’s alright, we just got to get into a game rhythm again.”

Coverage begins for Pella Christian vs. PCM doubleheader Monday at 5:45 with pregame coverage and opening tip for the girls game at 6 p.m. Andrew Schneider and Wynne Veenstra have the call on the KRLS2 stream at KNIAKRLS.com.