The 2020 Eagles are making their own history 30 years after the school’s first state tournament appearance.

Pella Christian earned its 15th ever bid to the Class 2A round of eight with a 52-30 substate finals win over South Hamilton Saturday, as heard live on 92.1 KRLS. The Eagles dominated the floor wire-to-wire, as they never trailed to the Hawks and kept them at bay for the entire contest.

Seniors Keean Cadwell and Josh Van Gorp both said that it was important to establish their presence on the court early, and keep South Hamilton from ever gaining too much momentum.

“The feeling is unreal — we just have a great group of guys and we’ve really just turned into a brotherhood over the season,” Cadwell says.

“We’ve been waiting for this forever, and now our dream is coming true–now we’ve got a week of practice to get ready for it,” Van Gorp says.

Van Gorp finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Cadwell and Dan Jungling each added 10 points. The Eagles are in the state tournament for the first time 2017 and this will be their 12th trip under future Hall of Fame coach Larry Hessing, which is tied for 4th most in Iowa High School Basketball history.

UPDATE: Pella Christian is the No. 7 seed and will take on No. 2 Treynor in primetime Monday, March 9th. Estimated opening tip is 8:15 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena. Hear the Eagles live on 92.1 KRLS.

Full first round schedule:
Monday, March 9

Monday, March 9

4:30—#3 North Linn, Troy Mills (24-0) vs. #6 West Sioux, Hawarden (22-2)

6:30—#2 Treynor (24-1) vs. #7 Pella Christian (13-10)

8:15—#1 Boyden-Hull (21-3) vs. #8 Woodward-Granger (22-2)

Tuesday, March 10

9:30—#4 Camanche (21-3) vs. #5 Monticello (21-2)

Full bracket: https://www.iahsaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/BB-State-Tourney-2A-3.2.20.pdf