After a week away when they were afforded a first-round bye in the modified 2020 football playoffs, the Pella football team will begin another push toward the round of 16 at home against Winterset this evening.

A grind-it-out 6-2 Huskies team that has been in several close games this fall–including a 35-34 thriller over North Polk in the postseason opener, will try its hand against one of the best defensive front seven groups in Class 3A. With a week to heal up and rest that unit, Head Coach Jay McKinstrey isn’t afraid to say that tonight’s matchup and how far Pella goes in the playoffs will likely depend on how strong those defensive lineman and linebackers are in slowing down opponents, including run-heavy Winterset this evening.

Kody Huisman, Levi Roose, Grant Nelson, and company will be aiming to slow down of the top running backs in Class 3A, as Winterset Junior Dawson Forgy will look to add to his 2nd-best-in-the-class 1,611 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns, while averaging 9.1 yards per carry. Meanwhile, the much improved Pella defense is now 8th-best in scoring average, and only gave up four offensive touchdowns in the run of five district games. Class 3A District 7 teams averaged 113 yards of rushing per game against the stout Dutch D, who had 33 ½ tackles for loss against those opponents.

Pella will look to continue a remarkable run of getting to the Class 3A round of 16, a feat they’ve accomplished every season since 2006, the last time they did not get into the playoffs. Coverage begins at 6:30 on 92.1 KRLS with Andrew Schneider and Randy Sikkema.