If the Pella High football team wants to make it a clean sweep of its non-district opponents, they’ll have to do something tonight that hasn’t happened in nearly 13 years.

That’s the last time, in 2011, that Cedar Rapids Xavier lost back-to-back games in the same season.

The Saints are coming off a 21-17 loss to Western Dubuque and sit at 2-1 on the season. Meanwhile, the Dutch are off to their first 3-0 start since 2018 after holding on to knock off Indianola 24-22 for homecoming last Friday. Coach Jay McKinstrey says that they’ll need to continue to excel in a couple of key areas if they want to get the victory tonight.

“We’ve had some big plays and we’ve kept the other teams limited on their big plays, and that’s a big deal. And taking care of the football. We’ve turned it over once in three games and we’ve got a few takeaways from the other teams and those are big also. We’re winning the battle there, and those things can go a long way towards winning games in the future.”

While not a geographic rivalry, Pella and Xavier have met seven times in the last decade with the Saints holding a slight 4-3 edge in the series. The Dutch stunned the then defending state champion Saints 31-21 one year ago in Pella.

Kickoff tonight is scheduled for 7:30 at Cedar Rapids Xavier High School. Trevor Castle and Randy Sikkema will call all of the action live on 92.1 KRLS, beginning with pregame at 6:30.