The Pella High football team has something to prove coming off of a 3-6 season in 2022, and they’ll open the 2023 campaign at home tonight against Ballard.

After starting 0-6 last year, the Dutch used a strong running game to rip off three straight wins at the end of the season. Bell cow back Kenson Fuller is lost to graduation, but coach Jay McKinstrey says that they need to lean into the running game much earlier in the season with hopes of picking up more victories.

“We’ve kind of flipped from last year. We finished well running the ball well at the end of the year, and we’ve put a lot more emphasis on it this year early. We’re going to keep developing the passing game, and when you look at Ballard, we’re going to have to throw the ball some tonight. We’re hoping to hit some short routes early, make them come up to make the tackle, then hopefully create some gaps where we can run the ball.”

McKinstrey expects Pella’s defense to get a heavy dose of the Ballard ground game tonight. Senior running back Eli Rouse racked up 1,039 yards from scrimmage and scored 16 touchdowns last year.

Kickoff is tonight at 7:30 at Pella High School. Trevor Castle and Randy Sikkema will call the action live on the KRLS2 stream at www.kniakrls.com with audio commentary available with video on the Pella Dutch Live YouTube channel.