If the Pella football team will contend to get back to the UNI Dome this fall, it will be driven largely by a stout, and potentially stifling, defense, aiming to crush opponents’ scoring attacks and give the offense multiple chances for success.

Head Coach Jay McKinstrey says two of the team’s most disruptive members from 2019 return on the Dutch defensive line in Seniors Kody Huisman and Levi Roose.

Now at 6-4 and 260 pounds, Huisman was a First-Team All-State selection in 2019, and will garner headlines again in 2020, as the future North Dakota State Bison will be a headache for opposing offensive lines, while Roose had 10 tackles for loss and led Pella with 4 ½ sacks.

There is plenty of backup looking to make plays in the backfield, as middle linebacker Grant Nelson had 9 tackles for loss last season and outside linebacker Nolan Clayberg had seven stops behind the line of scrimmage.

The Pella High School football season starts with the annual Intrasquad Gatorade Scrimmage tonight at 7 p.m. at the Pella High School football field. Cost of admission is a 20 oz bottle of Gatorade.