Photo by Troy Hugen

Pella Christian and Iowa City Regina will square off tonight for the seventh time in the past nine years, this time in the opening round of the class 1A playoffs on Eagle Lane.

The 8th-ranked Eagles went 7-1 during the regular season and were district runners up at 4-1. The Regals went 5-3 overall and are the third seed out of their district at 3-2.

It’s not quite the juggernaut Regals team that P.C. ran into year after year in the middle part of the last decade. Marv Cook, who was on the sideline for seven state championships, including six in a row from 2010-2015, retired after winning the title in 2020. His longtime defensive coordinator, Jason Dumont, is now in his second season as head coach, and Eagles skipper Rich Kacmarynski says that defense is the strength of their team. He likes the way his offense is playing and says it will be a critical matchup tonight.

“I think we run the ball well and we’ve got a nice little balance between Isaac (Kacmarynski) and Benny (Schirz), and also with Petyon Ritzert in there. I feel like Isaac’s been throwing the ball well this last half of the season, so we’re going to do what we need to do to be successful.”

Kickoff is tonight at 7:00 at Pella Christian High School. Trevor Castle and J.D. Boer will call the action live on 92.1 KRLS, the free KNIA/KRLS app and the Pella Christian High School YouTube channel. Pregame starts at 6:30.