It’s only been two years out of the postseason, but for Pella football fans, it feels like an eternity. The Dutch had been in the playoffs 15 straight years from 2006 to 2020, and they’re back tonight for an opening round matchup in class 4A against Bondurant-Farrar.

Pella blitzed the Blue Jays 40-13 in the Tulip City two weeks ago, and tonight they’ll hit the road to try to end the title hopes of one of the preseason favorites. In that game, star running back Titus Cram suffered a season ending injury, and they’re also without their top wide receiver and defensive back, Reed Pfaltzgraff, who went down with an injury the week before against Gilbert.

Those two losses have certainly altered the class 4A landscape, but Bondurant-Farrar did get a chance to tweak their lineup and game plan for a week nine matchup with Carlisle and rolled to a 42-7 victory. Pella coach Jay McKinstrey says that the Blue Jays are deep and talented, and still present a major challenge tonight. He’s hoping that his team can play loose and free despite its lack of postseason experience.

“We want them to enjoy the moment and enjoy the time. But at the same time, when you go out there on Friday night it will smell different. It’s a playoff smell to it, it really is. The atmosphere will be different and you’ll feel a little more tight and like ‘wow, this is a playoff game’. But when we’ve played well this year, we’ve played free.”

Kickoff is tonight at 7:00 at Bondurant-Farrar. Trevor Castle and Randy Sikkema will call the game live on 95.3 FM and the KRLS2 stream, beginning with pregame at 6:30.