The No. 5 in 1A Pella Christian football team stayed undefeated with a 21-7 victory over No. 4 in 2A PCM last night in Monroe in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.
The Eagles, ranked 5th in class 1A, overcame a minus three turnover differential. The defensive line made yards tough to come by for class 2A #4 PCM, and safety Eric Mulder made two touchdown saving plays. One was a knockaway on a deep pass to the end zone, and the other was tracking down Mustang speedster Aiden Anderson on a long run. Coach Rich Kacmarynski praised the senior’s play after the game.
“Probably one of the things that gets overlooked is his defensive play. On pass defense, he’s a tall, rangy guy and he’s smart, sees the ball in the air and breaks on it. And he’s a great tackler as you saw on that play. Hats off to Eric on both of those plays, but really all night long, I thought he was really playing center field well and controlling our whole secondary.”
PCM was bolstered by the return of Anderson and quarterback Auggie Stock, but Stock re-injured his left knee in the first half and backup Carson Vande Lune went down with an injury of his own in the fourth quarter. Coach Greg Bonnett says that they just didn’t have enough to overcome those losses.
“I think we’re a good football team and a bunch of fighters, but we don’t have any offensive productivity right now. Right now we can not throw the ball without Auggie. Maybe the freshman kid will get in there, but he’s still a freshman. We have to go back to the drawing board and see what we do have and try to put together an offense, because right now we’re not going to be able to move the ball.”
Anderson had 180 yards from scrimmage on 26 carries and a pair of catches. For Pella Christian, Bennie Schirz rushed 24 times for 89 yards and two touchdowns, and Drew Gettings caught three passes for 115 yards, including a 68-yard go-ahead score in the second quarter.
Pella Christian is now 3-0 and will host Van Buren next Friday. PCM drops to 1-2 and will travel to Iowa Falls for a week four matchup.