Pella Christian’s football team gave their fans plenty to cheer about in a 44-7 victory Friday night in their home opener as heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Eagles scored on defense on the first offensive play of the game when Isaac Kacmarynski plucked a Panther fumble out of mid air and rumbled 25-yards for a touchdown.  P.C. fell behind 7-6 when a Kacmarynski interception led to a Panorama touchdown, but the Eagles never looked back from there, scoring the final 38 points.

It was the defense that set the tone for Pella Christian, as a Pather squad that rushed for more than 200 yards last week was held to only 42 yards on 34 carries last night.  Coach Rich Kacmarynski says that putting Panorama behind schedule was the key.

“We talked a lot about winning on first down and getting them behind the sticks.  I thought that we did that for the most part, and in fact we had some real key tackles for loss on first down to put them into second and long.  There aren’t many offenses that want to live there, and I thought that Panorama might struggle if we could get them into second and third and long.  We really wanted to win on first down and I thought for the most part we did that.”

Joe Diehl and Logan Kelderman led the defensive charge with 11 and eight tackles, respectively.  On offense, Bennie Schirz rushed for 74 yards on 14 carries with one touchdown.  Drew Geetings (63), Eric Mulder (20) and Bennett Spronk (38) all caught touchdown passes as Kacmarynski and Beau Bush combined for 11-of-21 passing for 209 yards.

Pella Christian is now 2-0 on the season and heads up Highway 163 to take on rival PCM next Friday night.