It had the makings of a potential classic and the best chance Pleasantville has had at knocking off Pella Christian after falling in ten tries, but a huge second half left the road team in the dust as the Eagles knocked off the Trojans 42-14, as heard live on KNIAKRLS.com Friday night.

The two teams traded scores and redzone defensive stops as the game knotted at halftime. While the Trojans were able to tie the game twice, the Eagles never trailed, thanks in part to two rushing scores from Cooper Spronk and Caleb Van Arendonk in the first half. An impressive throw by Pleasantville’s Braylon Bingham and a Caleb Cook score following a two minute drill gave the road team the edge heading into the second half.

Pella Christian’s defense locked down their longtime district rivals in the 3rd quarter, and spurred on a scoring spree that included multiple big runs from Spronk and Benny Schirz and featured 28 unanswered points. The Eagles finished with 326 rushing yards — 155 from Schirz and 141 from Cooper, who ended up with four total scores. Trevor Veenstra added two sacks on defense.

The Eagles improve to 3-1 overall and start district play with a victory and host Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont next week; the Trojans fall to 2-2 and welcome Sigourney-Keota to town in week five.