As the Pella football team continues to run the non-district gauntlet, potentially its greatest challenge was saved for last, as the Dutch host Bondurant-Farrar this evening.

It’s the first time Pella has started 0-3 in the quarter century that Jay McKinstrey has been at the helm, and to avoid an 0-4 start, the Dutch will have to upset the 6th-ranked Bluejays.

To do that, they’ll have to find a way to slow down junior running back Titus Cram. He gashed Pella for 152 yards and four touchdowns last season, and in three games this year he’s already rushed for 552 yards and six scores. McKinstrey says that he’s certainly the focal point of what the Dutch will do defensively tonight.

“There’s certainly some risk and reward in that, but you look at what they do and what their strength is and you try to take away their strength the best you can and make them do something they don’t want to do to beat you”, McKinstrey said. “They’re going to do the same thing tonight with our offense and they’re going to make us throw the ball. We certainly have worked on that and I think we have improved, but we’re going to find out when the kickoff happens tonight whether we have improved or not.”

Kickoff is tonight at 7:30 at Pella High School. Trevor Castle and Randy Sikkema will call the action live, beginning with pregame at 6:30, on 92.1 KRLS, the free KNIA/KRLS app and the Pella Dutch Live YouTube channel.