Coming off of their second straight State Tournament appearance last year, the Pella Christian boys basketball team expects to be tested on a nightly basis this winter.

The Eagles schedule features four teams that were in the final edition of the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s rankings last season. Among those teams, Pella Christian will face Indianola, Newton, and Norwalk twice in Little Hawkeye Conference games, and will host reigning Class 1A champion Grand View Christian for homecoming in January. Knowing that they will be challenged this season, Eagles head coach JD Boer says it will be an advantage for his team come later in the year.

“I think it benefits us in the long run. I’m not afraid to say, hey we might lose a couple games, now we don’t plan on it. We plan on going into each game with a mindset to win. But we also recognize, we’re going to learn. Win or lose, hopefully we can learn as much as we can by winning, but if we take some losses along the way, we’re gonna at least be exposed early on to know what we got to work on and be able to improve.”

The Pella Christian boys basketball team opens the 2023-2024 season Tuesday night in the back half of a doubleheader at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.