Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

The Pella Christian football team wraps up their difficult non-district schedule tonight, hosting two-time defending state champions Grundy Center.

The Eagles have struggled through their first two games this season, falling to Des Moines Christian 56-0 and PCM 59-7. Across the field, the Spartans have followed up winning the Class 1A State Championship last year by going 2-0 to start this season. Grundy Center opened the fall with a 21-7 win over Dike-New Hartford, before beating Aplington-Parkersburg 43-7 last Friday. While he knows the Spartans pose another tough test tonight, Pella Christian head coach Rich Kacmarynski says that anyone can be beat on any given night.

“I think we learned maybe in the playoffs that they’re mortal. They beat us pretty good in the non-district schedule early on (last year), I don’t think we played well in the first game. The second game I thought we played lights out, but I think that that’s one thing we learned last year, is that when we play like we’re capable, we can play with the best in 1A and Grundy Center is the best in 1A. So, that’s been our focus is to just play our best all week and it’s been good. I’ve been really pleased with our week of preparation.”

Pella Christian football against Grundy Center tonight can be heard live on the KRLS2 stream at KNIAKRLS.com and viewed live on the Pella Christian YouTube channel, beginning with pregame coverage at 6:30 pm.