Through four games in 2020, Pella Christian Defensive End Luke Mulder has been the most disruptive defensive player in Class 1A football.

Following one and a half sacks and seven total tackles behind the line against Interstate 35 Friday, Mulder owns the lead in both statistical categories in 1A, and his 5.5 sacks is 14th most and 13 stops for loss is 6th most among all Iowa High School football players regardless of classification.

Head Coach Rich Kacmarynski says Luke is making the rest of the defense better — whether it’s through his own ability to cause mismatches, or by drawing extra attention and letting the rest of the speedy defensive line and linebackers make impact plays of their own.

“My brother-in-law coached high school football for over 30 years, and he said the key to good defense is having one guy on the D-Line they can’t block…they have to double team him. There’s a lot of truth in that–so right now, if a team tries to single block Luke Mulder, they are in trouble, and if they double team Luke they are a man short someplace else, and we have enough horses to take advantage of that.”

Mulder has a sack in each of his first four games, and is 1 ½ shy of the single season school record held by Caleb Morgan, set in 2011, with three regular season games and a playoff contest left on the schedule as of today.